Don’t be spooked by lists of E-numbers on labels. Instead, consider your choice of food. Emulsifiers, like most E-numbers, are completely harmless in themselves, but the foods which contain them tend to be high in fat and low in nutrients.
Food additives don’t only rouse our scepticism by being encoded as E-numbers, but also because we’re not always sure why the manufacturer added them in the first place. When was the last time you sprinkled anti-caking agent onto your scrambled egg?
Food processing on an industrial scale is quite a different ball game from sizzling something up on your kitchen stove. Let’s start with anti-caking agents. They ensure that finely powdered or crystalline food products don’t clump together, and include substances such as tri-calcium phosphates (E341), and magnesium silicates (E553a). You will find that an anti-caking agent has been added to your table salt for the same reason.
What about “flour improver”? In the olden days, flour was stored for several weeks before bread making. During the storage period, the natural oxidation process improved the quality of the gluten (a wheat protein). This made the dough stronger and more elastic – essential qualities which allow the bread to rise properly during baking. Freshly milled flour requires the addition of an oxidising agent (“flour improver”). Flour improvers include chlorine (E925), sulphur dioxide (E220) and ascorbic acid (E300). The latter is vitamin C, an antioxidant which is turned into an oxidant via enzymatic reduction in the bread mix. If you ever bake bread at home, add a small pinch of vitamin C powder to the dough and your loaf will turn out much fluffier.
Now wouldn’t it be nice if we all had the time to bake our own bread and cook everything from scratch? Even those of us who are highly sceptical about food additives would be hard-pushed to subscribe to an entirely processed-food-free lifestyle. But while many E-numbers are entirely harmless, some degree of caution may be appropriate.
Regardless of whether individual food additives are declared safe by official bodies, there is a lack of research to allow us to conclude what effects their consumption may have on human health over the span of a lifetime, and how those additives might react with each other in the body. A reality check may be in order, and if you find that virtually all your meals come out of a packet, then it’s probably time to strap on that apron.
Amicable Antioxidants
Colourings
Preservatives
Emulsifiers
Amicable Antioxidants
Contrary to popular belief, food additives aren’t just let loose on the public willy-nilly. European Union legislation requires additives to undergo a rigorous course of safety tests. Once approved, they are awarded their very own “E-number”. E-numbers have come in for a lot of flak in recent years, blamed by some for every ailment imaginable, from twitchy eyelids to colon cancer. In a few cases, the call for even more extensive safety investigations is warranted, but the great majority of E numbers are potentially less harmful than an afternoon’s inline skating. Indeed, without a prudent sprinkling of additives, some food products would make for a sorry sight, never mind smell!
Foodstuffs perish in a number of ways - just think of apple slices turning brown and butter going rancid. This type of damage is inflicted by the oxygen in the air, and therefore referred to as “oxidative” damage. Just as you might use a drizzling of lemon juice to keep your fruit salad looking perky, food manufacturers follow the same principle by employing the powerful antioxidant E300, also known as vitamin C. To prevent rancidity in baked goods, they add vitamin E (E306-E309). Most of the E-numbers ranging from E300-340 are antioxidants, and they are added to a myriad of foods, including tinned fruit, fizzy drinks, jams, potato products, vegetable oils, processed meat products and biscuits.
So, while those E-numbers are not very likely to make you grow two heads, it’s worth scrutinising the foods they’ve been added to. It’s not the E306 in your daily pork pie, which will have adverse effects on your health, it’s the pork pie! How about an orange for your daily dose of E300, and you’ll get plenty of E306 in a handful of Brazil nuts?
Colourings
Of all the E-numbers that abound, food colourings are probably the most controversial. Around 50 are permitted in the UK, ranging from E100-E180. Some might argue that food colours are utterly superfluous, but the simple fact is: we just don’t like pallid food. Many colouring agents are of natural origin and entirely innocuous, such as E100, a rich yellowy-orange extract made from curcumin, the turmeric plant. Turmeric powder is a spice added to curries, and you’ll know from accidental spillages just how hard it is to get those stains out. E100 is commonly used to brighten up cheese, margarine and fish fingers.
E101 is equally wholesome, also known as riboflavin or vitamin B2, and used as a yellow colourant in sauces, soups and jams. E160-E161 encompass many types of carotenoids; yellow, orange and red pigments found in fruit and vegetables. E162 is made from beetroot, and E140 from chlorophyll. However, allergic reactions to natural food colours can occur, for example, to E120 (cochineal), a deep red colour made from crushed cactus beetles (Dactylopius coccus). It takes around 70,000 female insects to make one pound of colour. Cochineal is used in alcoholic beverages, some cheddar cheese varieties, pie fillings, sweets etc.
Popular concern about food colourings tends to be centred around “azo dyes”, a group of synthetic colours made from a by-product of coal distillation. E102, tartrazine, is probably the best known. Azo dyes may cause allergy-type reactions in sensitive people, including some asthmatics.
A recent and ongoing food scare involves the azo-dye Sudan I, banned for use in foods, which was illegally added to several batches of chilli powder imported from India. The contaminated consignment found its way into a vast number of popular foods, including cooking sauces, ready meals, condiments and spice mixes.
Here is a list of affected products from the UK Foods Standards Agency.
Most likely, you’ll find a stash of blacklisted products festering at the back of your kitchen cupboard. But even though Sudan I is considered carcinogenic (cancer-causing), you’d have to eat a lot of it over a prolonged time period to run any real risk.