Food Additives and Preservatives: What's In My Food?

Ever want to know more about those weird abbreviations and long, unpronounceable names on ingredient lists? Now you can.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, CSPI, has a richly informative section of their website called Chemical Cuisine. The website is simple to navigate, and free to use. There is also a "Chemical Cuisine" app available through Itunes.

What I like about the site:

1) It lists additives and preservatives, both synthetic and natural. (While natural things are often safer than their synthetic counterparts, natural does not always equal safe.)

2) Rather than relying on simplistic "Good" or "Bad" answers, ratings include "Safe," "Cut Back," "Avoid," "Caution," and "Certain People Should Avoid."

3) Ratings are based on scientific evidence rather than opinion, another plus.

4) It's easy to navigate. You can search by alphabetical order or rating type.

Searching by rating may reveal some unexpected finds--for example, caramel coloring, which sounds natural and relatively benign, is on the "Avoid" list, because when produced by a process using ammonia, the end result often contains cancer-causing contaminants. Also, stevia and Quorn products (vegetarian meat substitutes), generally considered safe in the natural health community, are surprisingly listed under "Caution." Stevia had some unfavorable animal studies, and Quorn products can be problematic to those with mold allergy as mycoprotein is used as the base.

5) It elaborates on levels of risk. For example, caramel coloring is more of a concern in beverages due to the large amount consumed, vs. soy sauce, where the amount consumed is relatively small.

Overall, I find this site to be an excellent resource in investigating food additives--from general education, to safety, to politics. While I have not yet tried the app version of the site, I look forward to doing so in the future.