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Where do food additives come from?
There are essentially four different sources for additives. The starting point for two of these is nature itself, and a third is nature-identical.:
- Plant sources: These include thickening agents extracted from fruit and seaweed; colours, isolated from seeds, fruit and vegetables; and ingredients that make a food more acidic, such as tartaric acid, which comes from fruit.
- Nature-identical products: These ingredients are exactly the same as ingredients found in nature, but are made either chemically or by fermentation. Examples include antioxidants, such as ascorbic acid in fruit and tocopherols in vegetable oils; colours, such as the carotenoids that are commonly found in fruit and vegetables; and acidic ingredients such as the citric acid present in citrus fruit.
- Modified natural substances: These include emulsifiers, which are derived from edible oils and organic acids; thickening agents like modified starches and modified cellulose; and bulk sweeteners, for example sorbitol and maltitol.
- Man-made products: For some ingredients, there is no alternative but to use a completely synthetic product. Examples include antioxidants such as butylated hydroxyanisole; colours like indigotin and quinoline yellow.
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