Food Labels - Other Ingredients & Their Functions
So the unpronounceable ingredients you find in your food usually serve one of the functions listed in the previous pages. Now, while it is near impossible to list all the strange ingredients you might encounter, we can list for you some of those you're likely to encounter:
Acidity regulators: used to adjust the acidity of foods and include: buffers, acids, alkalis neutralising agents. Anti-caking agents: make the product more free-flowing.
Emulsifiers: These are very common and allow for easier mixing of oils and water. An example of a food emulsifier is an egg yolk.
Modified starch: A type of thickening agent.
Stabilisers: These are added to food to help stop foods from separating. Flavour enhancers: These help brings out the natural flavour in the food. The most well known is the controversial monosodium glutamate (MSG) sodium salt of the amino acid glutamic acid and a form of glutamate. MSG is commonly found in Chinese food, and processed foods such as soups and sauces.
Aspartame: Aspartame is better known by its trade name Nutrasweet, an artificial low-calorie sweetener. Aspartame can be found in mints, carbonated soft drinks, cereals and yogurts. This FDA-approved sweetener has been proven safe over more than 10 years of testing. Only people who can't process phenylalanine (a rare genetic defect) need to avoid aspartame.
So the unpronounceable ingredients you find in your food usually serve one of the functions listed in the previous pages. Now, while it is near impossible to list all the strange ingredients you might encounter, we can list for you some of those you're likely to encounter:
Acidity regulators: used to adjust the acidity of foods and include: buffers, acids, alkalis neutralising agents. Anti-caking agents: make the product more free-flowing.
Emulsifiers: These are very common and allow for easier mixing of oils and water. An example of a food emulsifier is an egg yolk.
Modified starch: A type of thickening agent.
Stabilisers: These are added to food to help stop foods from separating. Flavour enhancers: These help brings out the natural flavour in the food. The most well known is the controversial monosodium glutamate (MSG) sodium salt of the amino acid glutamic acid and a form of glutamate. MSG is commonly found in Chinese food, and processed foods such as soups and sauces.
Aspartame: Aspartame is better known by its trade name Nutrasweet, an artificial low-calorie sweetener. Aspartame can be found in mints, carbonated soft drinks, cereals and yogurts. This FDA-approved sweetener has been proven safe over more than 10 years of testing. Only people who can't process phenylalanine (a rare genetic defect) need to avoid aspartame.