Additives are substances added to foods to enhance their natural qualities. Additives may keep foods fresher longer, boost a food’s nutritional content or improve the appearance, taste or texture of food.

There are two major categories of food additives. Direct additives are intentionally added to the food for a specific purpose. Indirect additives become part of the food in trace amounts as a result of harvesting, production, processing, packaging, storage or other handling.

Additives offer many benefits to foods that can be grouped into three major categories:

• Maintaining or improving freshness and safety
• Improving or maintaining nutritional value
• Improving taste, texture and appearance

There are thousands of additives, both direct and indirect. Examples of direct additives include antimicrobials, antioxidants, natural and artificial flavors, colors, and others. Indirect additives are usually present in tiny amounts and may include bits of plastic, glass, paper, tin and chemicals from processing.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for ensuring the safety of all food additives and must approve any new substance before it is introduced to the market. The FDA does not approve any additive until it has been demonstrated that the additive is effective and is detectable or measurable in the final product. Most importantly, the FDA must determine that the product is safe for human use.

The FDA has a list of about 700 items that are generally recognized as safe (GRAS). Items on this list do not require FDA approval because they have a well-established track record of safety. Examples include caffeine, sugar and many spices.