Making decisions about what to eat is more difficult than ever before. Generally speaking, if the food needs to be washed or peeled, it's probably safe to eat because it is fresh or straight from the farm or garden. These days, however, many foods need to be unwrapped or unboxed.
When scanning the ingredient lists on these packaged foods, we often stumble upon numerous items that we can hardly recognize, let alone pronounce. These are ingredients we would never normally see in the ingredient list of a recipe for a home-cooked meal.
So, how do we decode what's in our food? It all boils down to looking at the science, the studies, the research.
Thankfully, not all food additives need to worry you, even if they are intimidating to pronounce (or spell). Consider just 3 common food additives you generally don't need to worry too much about even though you may not have initially been able to recognize it:
1. Papain: This is an enzyme taken from the papaya plant. Because of its high proteolytic (breaks down protein) activity, it is often used to tenderize meat products. 1,2
2. Erythorbic acid ( which also may appear as isoascorbic acid or as its sodium salt, sodium erythorbate):
Erythorbic acid is a stereoisomer of ascorbic acid ( a fancy word for vitamin C). Stereoisomers bascially have the same molecular formula but their atoms are arranged differently. Erythorbic acid is mainly used as an antioxidant in food products or as a way to preserve color in products such as frozen vegetables, beverages, and processed meats or fruits.
In fact, certain products may use this instead of sodium nitrate, an additive that can cause the formation of nitrosamines, a carcinogenic chemical. 3
An early study of erythorbic acid examined whether or not it would interfere with vitamin C absorption because of its chemical similarity. Researchers were concerned of whether it would lead to vitamin C deficiency. The study found that in young women it did not interfere with vitamin C absorption. 4
It is approved by the FDA, FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives, and the European Food Safety Authority as being safe for use in food production. 5,6
3. Acetic acid. Don't worry, it may sound dangerous but it's not. You'll often find this listed on vinegar, pickled foods, or sauces. Yes, vinegar is about 5% acetic acid and the rest is water. Acetic acid is what gives vinegar that strong, characteristic smell.
This acid is also known as ethanoic acid or ethylic acid and, according to one source, can be naturally ocurring in orange juice, wines, or aged cheese. 7
"Food-grade" acetic acid is generally recognized as safe by the FDA and classified by the JECFA as posing no safety concern. 8
References
1. Pradeep Kumar Singh, Neeraj Shrivastava, B.K. Ojha, Chapter 8 - Enzymes in the Meat Industry, Editor(s): Mohammed Kuddus, Enzymes in Food Biotechnology, Academic Press, 2019, Pages 111-128, ISBN 9780128132807, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813280-7.00008-6.
2. Code of Federal Regulations. (2021, September 21). 21 CFR 582.1585 -- papain. 21 CFR 582.1585 -- Papain. Retrieved October 5, 2021, from https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-E/part-582/subpart-B/section-582.1585.
3. Epley, R. J., Addis, P. B., & Warthesen, J. J. (1992). Nitrite in Meat. Minnesota Extension Service.
4. Am J Clin Nutr 1996:64:336-46.
5. Who | JECFA. (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2021, from https://apps.who.int/food-additives-contaminants-jecfa-database/.
6. EFSA Journal 2016;14(1):4360
7. VIRGINIA Department of Health. (2018, October). Home. Acetic Acid - Epidemiology. Retrieved October 5, 2021, from https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/epidemiology/epidemiology-fact-sheets/acetic-acid/.
8. U.S. National Library of Medicine. (n.d.). Acetic acid. National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Database. Retrieved October 5, 2021, from https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Acetic-acid#section=Food-Additive-Status.