FOOD ADDITIVES USED IN BAKERY PRODUCT

Food additives that are used in bakery products

1. FOOD ADDITIVES IN BAKERY By ARNAB KUMAR SAMANTA

2. WHAT IS FOOD ADDITIVES : Substances that are added to food to maintain or improve the safety, freshness, test, texture , or appearance of food are known as food additives . Many different food additives have been developed over time to meet the need of food production , as making food on large scale is very different from making them on the small scale at home. With the increasing use of processed foods since the 19 th century, food additives are more widely used. To regulate these additives and inform consumers ,each additives is assigned a unique number called E number , which is used in Europe for all approved additives . This numbering scheme has now been adopted and extended by the Codex Alimentarius . A SMALL SAMPLE OF ADDITIVES THAT ARE GENERALLY USED IN FOOD CODE NUMBER ADDITIVES CATAGORY 160a Beta carotene COLOURANT 100 Curcumin COLOURANT 281 Sodium propionate PRESERVATIVE 203 Calcium sorbate PRESERVATIVE 331 Sodium citrates ANTIOXIDANTES 481 Sodium lactylate or sodium oleyl lactylate EMULSIFIERS 500 Sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate RAISING AGENTS 262 Sodium acetate or sodium diacetate ACIDITY REGULATORS

3. TYPE OF FOOD ADDITIVES : According to their uses additives are divided in to several categories . EMULSIFIERS : Used to ensure that mixture of oil and water stay mixed together . In addition to this emulsifiers can also aerate , increase product softness and modify structure and consistency RAISING AGENT : Raising agent are used in bakery products to make them rise . ANTIOXIDANTS : Antioxidants help to prevent oils and fats from deteriorating and developing rancid flavours . They also slow down colour and flavour changes so food made using oils and fats can be kept for longer . COLOURS : Colours make foods look more attractive . They are added to help identify flavours , to make food look brighter and to restore colour that may have been lost during processing PRESERVATIVES : Preservatives are used to improve the safety of food by controlling the growth of mould , bacteria and yeast that cause food to deteriorate . FLAVOR AND FLAVOR ENHANCERS : Flavors give food a particular taste or smell , some taste enhancers enhance a food’s existing flavors .

4. GENERAL USE OF ADDITIVES IN BAKERY Bakery additives are the ingredients apart from major ingredients like flour, fat , sugar, that are used in baked foods at relatively low levels and have a wide range of functions to perform Main purpose of adding food additives in Bakery food : Improving the keeping quality of a food by making it last longer on the shelf or in the fridge , e.g. a preservative to prevent growth of bacteria or humectants to prevent food drying out. Improving the taste or appearance of a food , by the addition of flavours , thickeners and colour . Consumers can actually be offered a wider choice of foods due to the existence of additives . Many manufactured foods contain additives , including margarine , ice cream and bread . The most common additives in flour are ascorbic acid or in some cases alpha amylase,(E300) to standardize levels in flour ensure good loaf volume and improve the crumb structure , softness and colour . Some emulsifyring agent like E471 and E472 are used to provide dough stability. Flour bleaching agent used to remove colour from the flour and improve baking qualities.

5. Example of Food additives in Bakery CODE NUMBER ADDITIVE DETAILS 220 SULPHUR DIOXIDE Improvement agent for biscuit and pastry flour except wholemeal 223 SODIUM METABISULPHITE Preservative for biscuit and pastry except wholemeal 300 L-ASCORBIC ACID Improvement agent for flour wholemeal and wholemeal bread 920 L-CYSTEINE HYDROCHLORIDE Improvement agent for biscuit flour except wholemeal and those containing E220 or E223. 925 CHLORINE Bleach and improvement agent for cake flour except wholemeal 926 CHLORINE DIOXIDE Bleach and improvement agent for flour and bread except wholemeal . Rules and regulation : Before an additives can be used in a food it is necessary as per Food & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to ensure that it is in the permissible list . This check that the food additives is safe at the level proposed to be used , and that there are sound technological reasons for the use of additives . all food ingredient , including any additives , must be included in the ingredient list on the packaging . The ingredients are listed in descending order of weight. Within the list of ingredients , the class name of the additives will be listed followed by the additive name or code number in brackets. For example ,Thickeners (pectin) or Thickeners (400).

6. HARMFUL EFFECTS OF ADDITIVES USED IN BAKERY Additives used in commercial bakery product some time have scary chemicals and they may indeed be quite harmful to human health . Bakery products – particularly Bread and buns – have come under the scanner of FSSAI , with the Centre of Science and Environment finding that most samples of bread tested in Delhi contain harmful substance that can cause Cancer With the latest finding of harmful ingredients in bread , it has become important that people are aware what could possible be added to low quality breads. We list out some harmful ingredients in bakery products that you should be aware of and watchout for : NAME OF THE ADDITIVES EFFECTS ON HUMAN BODY Potassium bromate It is considered to be as Carcinogens .The IARC reports that no data are available to assess it’s potential carcinogenicity. However , food–additive-grade potassium bromate causes kidney and thyroid tumors when it feed to rats. potassium bromate is on California’s Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer. Azodicarbonamide It bleaches the flours used for baking bread. According to the FDA, at high levels, SEM (a chemical that forms when ADA it broken down during breadmaking )has been shown to female mice , but not to male mice or either gender of rat. Although considered safe in the US up to 45 PPM, it is banded in Europe because recent studies showed it could cause asthma or allergic reaction. Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) BHA is used as antioxidants in breads but according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Sarvices2011 Report on Carcinogen , BHA is reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen. The compound is also listed on California’s list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer . Partially hydrogenated oils These Trans –Fat substances are the worst kind of fat that anyone could consume. Eating Trans fat increases systemic inflammation , which is linked to the heart disease , diabetes and stroke. Artificial colours Many bakers In india make White bread brown by adding caramel to make it Brown Bread. Caramel colouring due to certain contaminants , namely 2-and 4-methylimidazole considers as possibly carcinogenic to humans.

7. NATURAL FOOD ADDITIVES: Natural food additives , mainly spices and plant extracts have been used for many countries in baking . some of the natural food additives are : Vinegar: At right use level and under certain condition, this weak organic acid act as antimicrobial and penetrate cell membrane and inhibit cell growth by increasing intracellular acidity Natamycin: A natural anti-fungal agent derived microbially and used as a food preservative. It affects all yeasts and molds, so in yeast bread it is limited to a spray application after baking . It also finds use as a preservatives in non –yeast leavened baked goods: tortillas, cake and muffins . Green tea extracts: Contains polyphenols, which are natural antioxidants. It has been tested successfully in cookies . Vitamin E(tocopherols): Mixed tocopherols are resistant to high temperature food processing steps and have good solubility in fats and oils Vitamin C(ascorbic acid): It functions as an antioxidant by forming double bonds and scavenging oxygen. THANK YOU