Tecnología y Biotecnología de Alimentos Guía de Prácticas de Laboratorio

Practical session No. 1

Identification of food additives in processed foods

Aim: Identify and differentiate among types of food additives and learn about their
specific role in processed foods, using a bibliographical search.

Introduction: (Explain why you are doing the work and briefly describe what you know about the
types/categories of additives for the specific food products you are going to analyze).

The purpose of this work is to be able to learn what type of additives predominate more
in a specific food category in order to better choose foods. Our product is chewing gum,
we don't know much about additives, but we were able to recognize Apartano, which is
a sweetener and can be carcinogenic.

Materials

3 bottles of sugar-free soda/fizzy drink (red, black and yellow)

3 packages of cookies of different brands

3 packages of chips of different sort (potato, vegetables, banana)

3 packages of Ajinomen soup of different flavours

2 empty cartoons of milk (skimmed and regular)

Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola – Carrera de Nutrición y Dietética

Methods: working in groups of three or four students, make list of all additives in your
chosen food products. Using the database of the Codex Alimentarius, see which functional
class they belong to, and find out the specific role each additive has in the food.

http://www.fao.org/fao-who-codexalimentarius/codex-texts/dbs/gsfa/jp

All the additives in this list are approved by the Codex Alimentarius because they have
been evaluated before by their group of experts.

Another helpful link is the FDA (USA), GRAS substances database, you can use it as a
cross reference. The USA keeps this list of previously evaluated substances that are
generally recognized as safe. It includes food additives but it does not include substances
considered ingredients.

https://www.fda.gov/food/food-ingredients-packaging/generally-recognized-safe-gras

(Write about what you did in order)

First we attach the additives of all our foods (milk, biscuit, chewing gum)

we look in the codex about its group, function, derivatives

Finally we look for information in grass about the impact that each additive can have
on health

Results: (presented in one single table, summarizing your findings)

MILK

(CODEX) Lecithin is in the antioxidant and emulsifier category. - (GRAS) Lecithin prevents fats in food
from oxidizing and rancidIt is a complex mixture of substances derived from the processing of soybean, corn
or safflower oil. Limited feeding studies indicate that compounds containing hydrogen peroxide bleached
lecithin are not carcinogenic when administered orally and are toxic only at instructions doses. greater
magnitude, also the conclusion is that it is type 1, there is no danger in adequate doses.

COOKIE

(CODEX) Sodium bicarbonato functional classes: acidity regulate, stabilizer,thickener - (GRAS) Sodium
hydrogen carbonate could also be used in heat-treated butter milk of food category and spices of food
category. The conclusión Gras: There is no evidence in the available information on [substance] that
demonstrates, or suggests reasonable grounds to suspect, a hazard to the public when they are used at levels
that are now current or might reasonably be expected in the future.

BUBBLE GUM

(CODEX) To sweeten and add flavor to their foods - (GRAS) they can be used alone to sweeten foods and
beverages or as an ingredient in other products. These high instensity sweeteners are considered safefor their
intendedUniversidad
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– Carrera de Nutrición y Dietética
 Tecnología y Biotecnología de Alimentos Guía de Prácticas de Laboratorio

Discussion: (discuss the significance of your observations, point out any limitations of your
methods)

We found the amount of additives behind the food we found in our homes interesting. Additives
like Lecithin are found in many dairy products and you need to know what it does.

the only limitation that we obtained in the search was the name of the lectin, in the codex page
they have it registered as lecithin, which took us a little more time to find the additive

all the additives found does not have a detrimental effect on human health

these additives we can find in the mayority of process food.

Questionnaire:

1. Which type of processed foods used today contained more categories of

According to Skrie (2018), the additives that can cause allergic reactions in the
industry are: tartrazine, parabens, benzoates, monosodium glutamate and sulfites.
One of the foods widely used at home for cooking is Ajinomoto, which contains
monosodium glutamate. Highly consumed beverages such as soft drinks contain
tartrazine.

2. Are all the additives used in these products classified as GRAS according to the
FDA?

According to the FDA; all of the additives that are in these products are classified as

GRAS, because they improve the durability of food; the organoleptic characteristics;

The most important thing is that they are safe and that in adequate amounts they

Are not harmful to health. Food additives are not bad as they have always been

Demonized, they have multiple benefits for products and consumer acceptability.

3. Find out the allowable daily intake (ADI) of the additives you found.

Daily intake of additive that we found are: lecithin no limit; sodium bicarbonate no
limit; aspartame 40mg/kg

Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola – Carrera de Nutrición y Dietética

References: (all the references used)

Skrie Víctor Claudio, Orellana Julio César. Reacción adversa por aditivos
alimentarios en un paciente pediátrico. Rev. alerg. Méx.  [revista en la Internet]. 2018  Jun
[citado  2020  Abr  04] ;  65( 2 ): 187-191. Disponible en:
http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2448-
91902018000200187&lng=es.  http://dx.doi.org/10.29262/ram.v65i2.288.

Butchko, H. H., & Kotsonis, F. N. (1991). Acceptable daily intake vs actual intake: the
aspartame example. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 10(3), 258-
266.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07315724.1991.10718153

European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). 2016. Scientific Opinion: Safety and efficacy of
lecithins. EFSA Panel on Additives and Products or Substances (FEEDAP). EFSA
Journal14(8):4561.

STUDENTS

Jimena Echevarria

Jose Chaquilla

Franko Alvarado

Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola – Carrera de Nutrición y Dietética