Food preservatives and additives are common ingredients that many people in the United States may not always pay close attention to. Food preservatives are defined as “any of a group of chemical preservatives that the FDA classifies as GRAS (generally regarded as safe) food additives” (“Food Preservative”). Food additives are ingredients that are added to the original food item to improve an aspect of that food. For example, color, taste, or visual appearance (Henochowicz).  Foods made with preservatives and/or additives are sometimes referred to as “processed food.” This simply means that the food item contains these extra, un-natural ingredients. Some people may have noticed a few complicated words on the list of ingredients for the food item they purchased, like azodicarbonamide and ethoxylated monoglycerides. Sounds like something people want to eat, right? Probably not knowingly, anyway. Chances are, if the ingredient is difficult to read or pronounce, and sounds like something kept in a high school science lab for a chemical experiment, it might not be the best choice for someone who is seeking a healthy option. Why should people care about this or raise awareness about these ingredients in the foods they are eating? Although preservatives and additives can be beneficial to human health by doing things like keeping food fresh longer and preventing spoilage, the negative health effects of these ingredients outweigh the good. Food preservatives and additives can be helpful and convenient, but without awareness or proper regulation they can become detrimental to human health. 

Before using the modern preservatives in foods today, people would use various techniques to preserve their food. “Food by its nature begins to spoil the moment it is harvested. Food preservation enabled ancient man to make roots and live in one place and form a community. He no longer had to consume the kill or harvest immediately, but could preserve some for later use” (Nummer). These ancient techniques utilized the natural resources around them instead of pumping the food with chemicals. Anything from fish and meat to fruits and vegetables could be dried and preserved by sunlight. Freezing could be used in locations with freezing temperatures, and people could keep their food outdoors or in streams, much like modern freezers. An additional technique was pickling, where food is submerged in vinegar. “Vinegar is produced from starches or sugars fermented first to alcohol and then the alcohol is oxidized by certain bacteria to acetic acid” (Nummer). People also used canning, which is still used today. Once the food was placed into a sealed jar, it was heated high enough that the temperature killed any microorganisms (Nummer). These techniques included no processed food, artificial flavoring, or dangerous chemicals that threatened human health. 

“About 90 percent of the money that Americans spend on food is used to buy processed food” (Schlosser 121). Ninety percent is the majority of the United States, which means almost every American has consumed food containing preservatives or additives at some point in their lives. Why is this so common? People want to eat food that tastes good. Flavor is what separates each restaurant from the next; they all have different flavor profiles, making different people have different “favorite” restaurants. For example, someone may love McDonald’s and hate Wendy’s, and the next person may love Wendy’s and hate McDonald’s. It does not make much sense when you compare the two largely successful fast-food chains. If you examine the menus from both restaurants side-by-side, they are almost identical. Both companies make hamburgers, French fries, chicken nuggets, chicken sandwiches, and even offer salads. The only difference is the taste, the spices, the physical appearance, and the additives. For example, McDonald’s French fries are not made from secret, super potatoes that make them taste better than the fries Wendy’s makes. “McDonald’s cooked its french fries in a mixture of about 7 percent soy oil and 93 percent beef tallow. The mix gave the fries their unique flavor -- and more saturated beef fat per ounce than a McDonald’s hamburger” (Schlosser 120). Therefore, it is not really people’s favorite foods that distinguish their preference in restaurants, it is the flavor, or the additives. 

In 2014, “Subway, the nationwide chain of sandwich shops, announced it would remove from its baked breads a possible carcinogen also found in yoga mats and the rubber soles of shoes” (Imus). Sound a little scary? Subway seems like the most unlikely culprit when it comes to unhealthy foods, especially when someone can personally watch their sandwich being made from what appears to be “fresh” ingredients. When Subway removed azodicarbonamide from the bread they used for their subs, they did not have to remove it from the bread in Australian and European stores (Imus). This was because azodicarbonamide has been made illegal to use in food products in Australia, the United Kingdom, and a majority of other European countries (Walker). In an article from NPR (National Public Radio) about the health concerns regarding azodicarbonamide, “The concerns about breathing problems stem from factory workers who have been exposed to high levels of azodicarbonamide. But it turns out, outside of this occupational exposure, there's no evidence that there's any risk at all to consumers” (Aubrey). In other words, working in a factory with the ingredient was dangerous, causing breathing problems, asthma, and cancer, but this source found it unlikely dangers were associated with eating the ingredient (Aubrey). This may be a questionable claim. Why would anyone want to eat bread that contained a chemical that had been found to cause asthma and other serious illnesses? Additionally, just because a source claims that an ingredient is not dangerous, does not mean an ingredient is necessarily healthy. 

Other menu items containing preservatives and additives may be unexpected. “A typical artificial strawberry flavor, like the kind found in a Burger King strawberry milk shake, contains the following ingredients: amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, . . .” (Schlosser 125-126) along with thirty-one additional ingredients of the same nature. This is pretty different that the traditional “ice-cream and milk only” milkshake recipe. How likely is it that an average person could identify even one of those ingredients, and why do they buy them? This is due to several factors. People are either unaware, they do not care, or they are aware and they care but the convenience and cheap prices are enough to bring them back every time. 

If so many Americans consume food made with preservatives and additives, how can they be that unhealthy? Additives like salt, wine, herbs, and spices are natural and healthy when used in appropriate amounts. However, other unnatural additives and preservatives are not so healthy, and more common in fast-food chains where people are not involved in the preparation of their food. For example, when personally making a meal by hand, ingredients are purchased in a grocery store and then brought home. Although some pre-packaged ingredients may be processed themselves, at least all items included in the meal are somewhat accounted for and a person is aware of how their food is being prepared. So, if someone is frying their food in beef tallow like McDonald’s fries, at least they know it. 

People may be wondering how the government can allow restaurants and grocery stores to sell potentially dangerous products. Why is the government choosing to loosely regulate the use of preservatives and additives? The Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) carries the responsibility of overseeing food safety regulation for the United States. This role was assigned to the FDA by Congress in in 1958 (Walker). “However, since 1997, the FDA does not require food companies to report what additives and the amount they are putting into food products, as long as the company has decided the additive is ‘generally recognized as safe’ or GRAS” (Walker). “Generally recognized as safe” is an extremely loose term for companies to do whatever they want. This transfers the power of food safety and regulation from the government to any food company out there, which means the ingredients in many products can be detrimental to human health. Ingredients like artificial food colorings, arsenic used in U.S. chicken production, potassium bromate used as an additive in bread, olean used in chips, and growth hormones used in U.S. milk production are all banned in other countries but legal in the United States. All of these ingredients have been linked to serious illnesses like cancer and organ abnormalities (Walker). 

This process of regulation is not shared with other countries. “The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) website posted that ‘fake coloring that gives those eerie bright hues to boxed macaroni and cheese, breakfast cereal, candy and soft drinks linked to behavioral changes in children, allergies, migraines and possibly cancer and those dyes are banned in several countries plus the United Kingdom — but not in the United States’ (Walker). Many people could testify the physical difference between homemade macaroni and cheese made with real, natural cheese, and the microwavable macaroni and cheese with artificial coloring and preservatives. The natural cheese has a pale, yellow color and the microwavable mac and cheese is colored bright orange. This is just one example of how preservatives and additives, under the FDA’s control, can drastically change a food item. This is also an example of how making meals homemade can help people avoid dangerous ingredients. “Although preparing meals at home can require more time, taking the extra time for cooking would save the American people from consuming harmful additives which were never intended for humans to eat and can have serious effects on people’s health” (Walker).

Organic products can be much more expensive than processed ones, and for a lot of families eating fast-food is considerably cheaper. However, there are solutions to try to cut back on exposure to preservatives and additives. Limiting packaged foods and eating whole foods like vegetables and grains reduce intake of unhealthy and unnecessary ingredients (“How to Avoid Food Additives & Preservatives”). According to pediatrician Dr. Alan Greene through Healthy Child Healthy World, the additives to especially avoid are “artificial colors – anything that begins with FD&C (e.g. FD&C Blue No. 1); chemical preservatives – butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), sodium nitrate, sodium benzoate; artificial sweeteners – aspartame, acesulfame-K, saccharin; added sugar – high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), corn syrup, dextrose, etc; and added salt – look at the sodium content and choose foods with the lowest amounts” (“How to Avoid Food Additives & Preservatives”). Paying attention to ingredients in processed foods may help to notice how frequent someone is eating unwanted additives.

However, food preservatives and additives can be helpful in certain aspects when used properly. For instance, the grocery store. Preservatives help food stay on shelves longer, allowing more time to be bought and make a profit. If food expires on the shelves quickly and customers do not purchase them in time, the food must be disposed of and money is lost. Or, the food is bought and disposed of in a household because it was not consumed quickly enough. This would eventually waste a lot of money for both grocery stores and families purchasing the food. People would have to go to the grocery store almost every day to buy fresh food and use it before it spoiled naturally. The preservatives allow food to resist natural spoilage for a longer amount of time than they would naturally be able to. Food spoils quickly due to microbes (bacteria and fungi) and oxidation, which is “chemical change in the foods molecules caused by enzymes or free radicals which turn fats rancid and brown produce like apples and potatoes” (Nelsen). Bacteria can be used to prevent this spoilage by producing lactic acid, which are used in things like yogurt. These bacteria are actually healthy and useful in regulating the digestive system. 

A natural strategy to preserve food and fight off microbes is to add a lot of sugar or salt. “Sugar and salt hold onto water that microbes need to grow, and actually sucks moisture out of any cells that may be hanging around, thus destroying them. Of course, too much sugar and salt can increase your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure, so these preservatives are best in moderation” (Nelsen). Even natural preservation techniques can pose a health risk, so it is important to know information about all of the food you are using, even if it is not processed or contains additives. Unnatural forms of food preservations are also linked to illnesses. Cancer has been linked to cured meats, which contain nitrates and nitrites that help to prevent botulism. Benzoic acid that can be found in salad dressing has been linked to hyperactive behavior. However, “the results aren’t conclusive. Otherwise these acids seem to be perfectly safe” (Nelsen). 

Using preservatives in food can also lower the world’s food waste. It is common for people to buy food from the grocery store, put it away in their cabinets, and forget about it for several months. By the time they remember it, they have missed the expiration date by a couple of weeks and have to throw the uneaten food away. Now imagine if the food did not have preservatives in it at all; food would be thrown out daily unless a family bought fresh ingredients from day-to-day. In a quote from Environmental Nutrition, “‘We are losing up to 50 percent of our food supply around the world due to food waste. We’re in a bit of a conundrum; we want healthy food that will last a long time, but if you don’t put preservatives in it you lose food due to spoilage,’ says Clemens” (Palmer). Therefore, if people want to eat fresh food without preservatives, they have to sacrifice the convenience of storing food for extended periods of time. If they want to be able to store food for longer than it would naturally last, they have to give up having truly fresh food without preservatives. 

Food preservatives and additives are common ingredients that many people in the United States may not always pay close attention to. What can be done to help this issue? Awareness. 

With knowing the negative and positive aspects of food preservatives and additives, it is someone’s personal decision to choose what kind of foods they eat. However, if people are not educated on these aspects they cannot make a decision that is most beneficial to their health. “Increasing health awareness among the consumers across all regions is fueling the demand for functional food ingredients” (“Food Additives Market - Evolving Industry Trends and key Insights by 2021”). Trading personal health for convenience is a choice that many people in the United States struggle with. Therefore, it is up to consumers to choose if they want to monetarily support brands that use preservatives and additives or clean food. As Ann Wigmore said, “The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.”
