Is there a meaningful difference between natural and synthetic additives?

A: As far as safety is concerned, in principle there is no difference between natural and synthetic additives. Indeed, both synthetic additives and natural compounds are chemicals. And the term ‘natural’ may even raise suspicions, as many naturally occurring chemicals are known to cause serious adverse effects if they are consumed. Several ‘natural’ additives have been proved to be unsafe and banned. To a toxicologist, it doesn’t matter whether an additive has been extracted from a plant or animal tissues, produced by fermentation or synthesised in a chemical factory. All are simply chemicals that may or may not have toxic properties.

When regulators are assessing the safety of an additive, they look at a full dossier of results of the tests that have been carried out according to internationally accepted standards, regardless of the chemical’s origin.

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