Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance taste, appearance, or other sensory qualities. Some additives have been used for centuries as part of an effort to preserve food, for example vinegar (pickling), salt, (salting), smoke (smoking), sugar (crystallization), etc. This allows for longer-lasting foods such as bacon, sweets or wines.  

Processed Foods

With the advent of processed foods in the second half of the twentieth century, many additives have been introduced, of both natural and artificial origin. Food additives also include substances that may be introduced to food indirectly (called "indirect additives") in the manufacturing process, through packaging, or during storage or transport.

Adverse Effects of Chemical Cocktails in Processed Food

A recent assessment done by the Danish National Food Institute warns that even small amounts of chemicals can amplify each other's adverse effects when combined, yet whatever risk assessment is done on these chemicals is typically done on individual chemicals in isolation.[14]

Most notably, the researchers found that even non-carcinogenic chemicals may act synergistically and cause cancer when combined!

This is a significant concern, considering the fact that more than 10,000 additives are allowed in food and food packaging. The latter often contain bisphenol-A (BPA), bisphenol-S (BPS), and phthalates, for example, which can migrate into your food.

References

1. Sulphite preservatives in wine and food can cause significant health issues

2. EWG Releases Dirty Dozen Guide to Food Additives (Dr. Mercola)

3. Total N-nitroso compounds and their precursors in hot dogs and in the gastrointestinal tract and feces of rats and mice: possible etiologic agents for colon cancer.

4. No risk from nitrates in vegetables, says EFSA

5. Could You Be Iodine Deficient?

6. EWG’S DIRTY DOZEN GUIDE TO FOOD ADDITIVES

7. THE SECRET INGREDIENT IN YOUR ORANGE JUICE

8. The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts

9. 認識現代食品的科技 (in Chinese)

10. Nasty stuff that’s in your food

11. 餐館的黑心食材 (in Chinese)

12. Where Food Preparation Leads To Food Poisoning

    • Reported illnesses from food occur most frequently in restaurants

13. 7 Domestic Factors That Can Make or Break Your Health

14. New knowledge strengthens risk assessment of chemical cocktails in food

15. Artificial Sweeteners Cause Cancer

16. POTASSIUM BROMATE

17. Potassium Bromate (EWG)

18. What Foods Are Banned in Europe but Not Banned in the U.S.?

19. The Poisonous Chemistry of Chocolate

20. Chocolate – Toxicology – Merck Veterinary Manual

21. DIET AND NUTRITION: The Artificial Food Dye Blues

22. CSPI Says Food Dyes Pose Rainbow of Risks

23. Red Dye 40: Safety, Side Effects, and Food List

24. More SS, Vartak AP, Vince R (October 2012). "The butter flavorant, diacetyl, exacerbates β-amyloid cytotoxicity". Chemical Research in Toxicology. 25 (10): 2083–91.

Table.  List of food additives and their health concerns