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Additives And Preservatives Used In Food Processing And Preservation, And Their Health Implication
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At present, it is the EFSA panel on food additives, flavouring,
processing, Aids and material in contest with food (AFC panel) who is in
charge of this task.
Assessments are based in reviews of all
available toxicological date in the humans and animals models. From the
available date, the maximum level of additive that has no demonstrable
toxic effect is determined. This is called “ no-observed-adverse-effect
level†(NOAEL) and is used to determined the “Acceptable Daily intakeâ€
(ADI) for each food additive. The ADI provides a large safety margin
and is the amount of a food additive that can be consumed daily over a
life time without any adverse effect on health (European parliament and
council Directive 1988).
Groups of additive according to committee on toxicity:
- Group A: Additives that the available evidence suggests are acceptable for use in food.
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Group B: Additives that on the available evidence may be
regarded meanwhile as provisionally acceptable for use in food, but
about which further information is necessary and which must be reviewed
within a specified time.
- Group C: Additives
for which the available evidence suggests probable toxicity and which
ought not to be allowed in food without evidence establishing their
acceptability.
- Group D: additives for which
the available evidence suggests possible toxicity and which ought not to
be allowed in food.
- Group E: Additives for
which the available evidence was inadequate to enable an opinion to be
expressed as to their suitability for use in food.
- Group F: additives for which no information toxicity was available.
Substance
that is not on permitted lists must not be used for the preparation,
manufacture and distribution of foods for sale to the ultimate
consumer. In the case of colours, emulsifiers, stabilizers, solvents
and most miscellaneous additives, there are no limitations on amounts
used in foods although there are prohibitions of their use in certain
classes of foods (Furia 1972).
Preservation is “any substance which
is a capable of inhibiting, retarding or arresting the growth of
micro-organisms or any deterioration of food due to micro-organisms or
masking the evidence of such, micro-organisms are yeast, meld, Bacteria.
The
use of preservatives to perseverance food has been a common practice
for many centuries e.g. salt, sugar, vinegar; spices have been used in
homes, for as long as man has been in existence (Britain food
Regulations 1989).
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