Food preservatives: Good or bad? |01 September 2023

With food travelling longer distances nowadays to get to us, it should not come as a surprise that manufacturers need to continuously find ways to keep the food safe during transportation and storage. Preservatives have been used for a long time to do just that.

It preserves the food so that it has a much longer shelf-life without becoming spoiled too quickly. This allows you to be able to buy for example your cereal, lentils, beans and other packaged goods and store it for some time (before the expiration date) without having to consume it quickly.

Without preservation, food in their natural state usually has to be consumed within a shorter timeframe to prevent microbial growth and foodborne illnesses. Whilst it is clear that preservatives play an important role in keeping our food safe, what is less clear for many of us is whether or not it has any negative health effects.

After all they are chemicals that are being added to our food. But are there preservatives that are better than others? Are there any benefits to preservation aside from just keeping food safe? And are there any negative health outcomes that can result from the consumption of too much preservatives? Let’s find out.

What are preservatives?

Before we go any further we need to be clear on what exactly are preservatives. Preservatives are ingredients added to food during the processing or manufacturing stage with the aim of limiting the growth of microbes or altering chemical changes that can happen in a food to prevent spoilage. The main goal is to keep the food fresh for a longer period by increasing the shelf-life of the food whilst also maintaining its flavour.

Some preservatives are also additives. An additive on the other hand is not always a preservative. Additives are added primarily to enhance the flavour, texture and visual appeal of a product. Additives are therefore not added to a food to enhance food safety but rather to improve the overall sensory pleasure of eating the food.

Some common preservatives in food

The two main types of preservatives used in food can be classified as natural or artificial.

Natural preservatives

These are ingredients found in nature and are not synthetic. They include for example salt, sugar, alcohol, vinegar, spices, syrup, lemon juice, oil and honey.

Artificial preservatives

As the name suggests, these are man-made or artificially produced and are synthetic. Artificial preservatives are abundant in many of the processed foods that we consume. Some examples of artificial preservatives include sorbates, nitrites, nitrates, benzoates, sulfites, glycerides and glutamates.

Some benefits of preservatives

Maintaining the quality of foods

The use of preservatives in food helps to maintain product quality. This is by ensuring for instance that the food has the correct texture by preventing caking, clumping or separation which can render a food unpleasant to consume. Quality is also maintained when the preservative prevents the food from becoming rancid or from developing an off-flavour.

Additionally, by slowing or stopping the growth of microbes they prevent the food from spoiling and also prevent food contamination. Without preservation many of the processed foods that we enjoy would not last for more than a few days.

Maintaining or enhancing nutritional value of food

During food processing many naturally occurring nutrients are lost from food. A good example is certain vitamins and minerals lost from grains during the milling process. Some of the preservatives like vitamin E added to products made from grains such as breakfast cereals help to enrich the final product by adding back some of the nutrients lost.

Some preservatives may help to fortify a product by adding a beneficial nutrient to the food that was not there originally. This is true for iodised salt, whereby the iodine added helps in the prevention of goiter, a thyroid condition caused by iodine deficiency.

Enhancing flavours and appearance of food

Many of the processed foods we enjoy just wouldn’t taste the same without preservatives. Some of the natural preservatives like spices, oil and salt aside from preventing food spoilage also improve the taste of the final product.

Some preservatives also have specific functions. Emulsifiers and stabilisers ensures that the texture of the food remains consistent, for example in yoghurt, butter or ice-cream. Leavening agents ensures that your biscuits, bread and pastries rise during baking and have the correct appearance and mouthfeel (soft, crispy or chewy).

The negative health outcome of preservatives

Despite all the benefits of food preservatives we must also be mindful of possible adverse effects it may bring to certain people. In general preservatives used in food are considered safe for the general population so long as they do not exceed a certain limit. Excessive use of preservatives in food or excessive consumption of processed foods containing preservatives can have detrimental health effects in the long-term.

One good example is the excessive consumption of processed meats like ham, corned beef, luncheon meat, salami which contain nitrites. Excessive nitrites have been linked with increased risk of certain cancers such as colorectal (bowel) cancer.

Although one may assume that natural preservatives are better than artificial ones, the amount added and consumed can influence the outcome.Salt, a natural preservative used even during prehistoric times has now become a nutrient that we are concerned about.

This has a lot to do with the fact that it is so abundant in processed foods especially those that are highly processed since it imparts a lot of flavour in food. Excessive salt consumption as a result of consuming too much of these highly processed foods can increase your risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.

Some preservatives can also trigger food intolerance or allergy in some individuals. This includes ingredients like nitrites, nitrates, sulphites and benzoic acid which are used widely in many processed foods. It is important therefore to read the ingredient list on food labels to ensure these ingredients are not there if you have a confirmed allergy or intolerance to any of them.

Reduce intake of highly processed food

The bottom line is if you regularly eat processed food, especially highly processed food, then be mindful of the types and amount of preservatives you are consuming every day. Although it is impossible to avoid processed food completely in today’s modern world, try to enjoy food in their natural state as often as possible.

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Yours in health

The E4OH team