E number guide

Every time I’ve sat down to eat a tin of Tesco Strawberries I’ve looked at the label and seen Allura Red AC on the list of ingredients.  Naturally I’ve assumed that it isn’t an E Number. A quick search proves this assumpion wrong.

Allura Red AC has the numer E129 which makes in a colour (obvious, I guess) and is known in the US as FD&C Red 40. It has the approval to be used in food, cosmetics and drugs and is generally seen to be safe.  Some comparisons have been made to the recently banned Sudan 1, but apart from a few cached pages in google I can’t find a firm place to confirm this.

Over on the Guardian’s blog is an interesting pint, I mean post, about the chemicals in our drinks, and how EU directive 2000/13/EC means we don’t have the right to know what’s in our drinks.

Seasoned drinkers have long argued that the thumpingest hangovers are the byproduct not of alcohol, but of the chemical additives that are added to drinks to improve their shelf-life, appearance, taste and scent

Read more

Bill Britt (Surely not Amway’s Bill Britt?) writes a Brand Health Check column and starts of “With an image stuck in the 70s and a reputation for E numbers, Findus is suffering more than other frozen brands.”

It seems that ready meal companies are taking a hit as customers strive for healthier alternatives.

“Findus is facing an array of challenges. The frozen-food market is in decline, while Findus’ brands, such as Crispy Pancakes, hark back to a bygone era, when convenience meals were seen as fresh, progressive and exciting.”

Read more over a Brand Republic

Calcium Sorbate (E203), like E202 is a preservative with antifungal and antibacterial properties. It is the calcium salt of sorbic acid.

Again, like Potassium Sorbate there isn’t a lot of information about positive or negative effects.

(Unfinished entry)

Further reading:

• Chem Online

Citric Acid (E330) isn’t often labled as an e-number on food labels, it is usually simply put as “Citric Acid”. It is an acid which occurs naturally in fruits such as lemons and limes. The additive found in today’s food, however, is manufactured from cultures of the mold Aspergillus niger. The mold is fed sucrose to then produce citric acid.

It is used most commonly as a preservative and acidity regular in soft drinks, yoghurts, fruit juices, cheese, margarine and salad dressings. It is chosen often over other preservatives for it’s distinctive flavour.

In the quantities used in food I can find no evidence that Citric Adic can be bad for you. However in it’s raw ingredient state it can cause skin and eye irritation. In pharmacutical doses symptoms could include chest pain, difficulty breathing, heart palpitations, diarrhea and vomiting - but again, you’re not going to reach these levels in your food.

Further Reading:

• Citric Acid
• WikiPedia
• CNN In-Depth food additives table

I thought I’d look into Sulphur Dioxide after eating a bag of dried fruit and feeling short of breath. Scanning down the ingredients I see “E220″. A quick look into Sulpur Dioxide doesn’t yield very impressive results, in fact is it on AltMedAngel’s top 20 food additives to avoid!

The International Labour Organization says to avoid E220 if you suffer from conjunctivitis, bronchitis, emphysema, bronchial asthma, or cardiovascular disease and the UK Food Guide doesn’t recommend it for consumption by children.

Foods to look out for containing this include: beers, soft drinks, dried fruit, juices, cordials, wine, vinegar, and potato products.

Further Reading:

• E220 - Sulphur Dioxide
• AltMedAngel
• Fed Up With Food Additives.info
• UK Food Guide.net

Potassium Sorbate (E202) is a preservative with antifungal and antibacterial properties. It occurs natrually in fruit and for the food industry is manufactured by neutralising Sorbic Acid (E200) with potassium hydroxide.

Most places list it being many many foods, Examples include candied peel, cheese, cider, concentrated fruit juice, dessert sauces, dried apricots, fillings and toppings, fermented milks, frozen pizzas, fruit salads, gelatin capsules, glacé cherries, jams and preserves, margarine, pickled cucumber, processed cheese spreads and slices, salad dressing, seafood dressings, soft drinks, soup concentrates, sweets, table olives, tinned fruit pie fillings, wine and yoghurt.

There isn’t a lot of information about Potassium Sorbate around, positive or negative, so it’s hard to tell about whether to watch out for this one.

Further Reading

• Potassium Sorbate
• UK Food Guide

Along with Aspartame (E951), Mono-sodium glutamate (or MSG for short) is one of the more famous E numbers on the list. It’s got a bad reputation and people know it. Although they may not actually know why. You can often tell when something shouldn’t be in food when it is illegal for manufacturers to put it in foods meant for babies or young children.

MSG is the savoury food world’s equivalent of sugar or artificial sweeteners. It convinces the taste buds that food tastes better that it actually does, therefore you’re going to eat more of the foods. So you’ll find it in all sorts of foods, some where you might not have expected it as it can appear on the label as hydrolyzed vegetable protein, hydrolyzed yeast, soy extract, and even the unhelpful listing of “natural flavourings”. Another pointer towards the possibility of MSG being present under a different name is the use of any of the additives E626 to E635 (as a quick guide look for the words guanylate or inosinate) as these can be used for their synergistic effects with MSG. For instance a 50/50 mixture of MSG and E626 (Guanylic acid) produces a flavour enhancer 100 times more potent than the same amount of MSG alone.

When dissolved into water or even saliva, MSG dissociates into free sodium and glutamate ions (glutamate is the anionic form of glutamic acid). Too much of this, it is suspected, can cause excessive brain receptor cell activation which may lead to a whole host of nerulogical problems such as Alzheimers, Parkinsons and Huntingdons. Although there is a lot of conflicting research out there.

Further reading:

• E621 - Monosodium glutamate
• UK Food Guide
• WikiPedia

From www.foodproductiondaily.com

Researchers in Ireland may have developed a naturally occurring enzyme preparation for baking, which increases loaf volume and crumb softness while also extending shelf life by three days.

I’m instantly suspicious of the phrase “developed a naturally occurring”. Is it naturally occuring or not? Does that make it better than a chemical (E-Number) or worse (GM foods). The word natural isn’t neccessarily to be trusted.

Anyways. The enzymes that are called hemicellulases, work on compounds found in wheat that inhibit the optimal development of dough. Hemicellulases act on arabinoxylans which are found naturally in layers of bran. These are large molecules that interfere physically with dough formation when water is added to flour.

Personally, we avoid wheat bread like the plague but I’m happy to see this working with Rye as well as wheat. It’s a long article so click on the link at the top of this posting to read it in full. More information of trying to manipulate the bread more. Apparently:

According to the scientists, the next step in their research will be to find a way to increase the amount of dietary fibre in bread while retaining crumb softness.

People really can’t be bothered to chew, can they?