In the name of Allah the Most Gracious the Most Merciful
Food...a very broad topic and a lot to discuss on...focus..focus...focus...that is all what I need to do in order to decide on what topic should I discuss and revise. Let us ask ourselves, what is the criteria that we will consider when we want to choose any food product that we want? Is it because of the attractiveness of the packaging? The taste of the food? The long shelf life of the food? Well, there is actually pros and cons on what we are considering. Why? because the all this criteria leads to one term name food additives. =)
In food industry, food additives may presence in different terms depending on the role that it takes. Let us look into the definition given by Malaysia Food Act and Regulation (1983). =) This is what I understand:
Food additives are referring to any substance that is safe to be consume that is intentionally included inside or onto food in small quantity that can give effect on its storage quality, texture, consistency, appearance, smell, taste, basic or acidic of the food. The by-product of the food additives become part of the food or become the agent that changes the food properties.
As I was saying, food additives may exist in few terms such as:
preservatives, colourant, flavor enhancer, anti-oxidant
History of food additives had started way before my birth or even my parent or grandparents. For instance, usage of spices, natural colorant such as tumeric and sugar as sweetener which contribute to the sweet taste of the food. Maybe I should dig a bit more about history of food additives and share. Insya-Allah (With God's willing)... As for now, here are some examples of food additives:
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Types of food additives
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Example
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Preservative
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Honey
Salt
Sodium benzoate
Propyl gallate
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Colorant
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Tumeric
Cochineal
Amaranth
Sunset Yellow
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Flavor enhancer
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Sugar
Spices
Monosodium glutamate
Vinegar
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Anti-oxidant
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Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA)
Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT)
Tetrabutylated Hydroxyquinone (TBHQ)
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Discussion on food additives relates to food safety issues as well as Halal issue.
Food safety aspect:
- Food additives can be divided into two which are natural food additives and synthetic food additives.
- Natural food additives can be obtained naturally such as spices for flavor enhancer, papaya leaves which can be use as meat tenderizer and stevia leaves as sweetener.
- On the other hand, synthetic food additives are originated from chemical based such as Butylated Hydroxy-Anisole (BHA) as anti-oxidant, saccharin as artificial sweetener and Ponceau 4-R as red colorant.
- Food safety issue usually deals with synthetic food additives, since chemical based materials may give unexpected side-effect to our health if consumed in excessive amount and in long run.
- Food with large quantity of food additives are against food law as well as can become harmful to our health.
- However, consumers are more aware and currently issuing food safety concern regarding on food additives. As for that, industries player are also trying their best to capture the eyes of consumer by taking care of the amount of food additive such as what we can see in the picture below:
(Good job!)
Halal aspect:
Halal aspect of food additives focused on the source of the food additives. Halal status of the whole product is affected even with trace amount of food additives which are originated from non-Halal source. Example of non-Halal source in Islam is such as porcine or any of its derivatives. Food additives that may originated from non-Halal source is such as gelatin. Another example of doubtful food additives are Monosodium glutamate (MSG) which is a very popular flavor enhancer. There will Halal issue if it is originated from bacterial fermentation. MSG produced from bacterial fermentation which are using culture media that contains non-Halal material such as blood or any substance originated from porcine becomes non-Halal.
Let have some knowledge on what is inside our food. That's all for now...=)
Wallahualam
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