Editing Food additive (section)

==Safety and regulation==
With the increasing use of processed foods since the 19th century, food additives are more widely used. Many countries regulate their use. For example, [[boric acid]] was widely used as a food preservative from the 1870s to the 1920s,<ref name=NutInj>{{cite book |author=Bucci, Luke |title=Nutrition applied to injury rehabilitation and sports medicine |url=https://archive.org/details/nutritionapplied0000bucc |url-access=registration |publisher=CRC Press |location=Boca Raton |year=1995 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/nutritionapplied0000bucc/page/151 151] |isbn=0-8493-7913-X }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | editor=Rev. Lyman Abbott  | title = The Outlook (Vol. 65)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__bt37n7ncQC&q=boric+acid+outlook| publisher = Outlook Co. | year = 1900 | pages = 403}}</ref> but was banned after [[World War I]] due to its toxicity, as demonstrated in animal and human studies. During [[World War II]], the urgent need for cheap, available food preservatives led to boric acid being used again, but it was finally banned in the 1950s.<ref name=NutInj/>  Such cases led to a general mistrust of food additives, and an application of the [[precautionary principle]] led to the conclusion that only additives that are known to be safe should be used in foods. In the United States, this induced adoption of the [[Delaney clause]], an amendment to the [[Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act]] of 1938, stating that no [[carcinogen]]ic substances may be used as food additives.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Epstein|first=S|date=March 1973|title=The Delaney Amendment|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0091743573900169|journal=Preventive Medicine|language=en|volume=2|issue=1|pages=140–149|doi=10.1016/0091-7435(73)90016-9|pmid=4803324}}</ref>  However, after the banning of [[sodium cyclamate|cyclamates]] in the United States and Britain in 1969, [[saccharin]], the only remaining legal [[artificial sweetener]] at the time, was found to cause cancer in rats.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Reuber|first=M D|date=August 1978|title=Carcinogenicity of saccharin.|journal=Environmental Health Perspectives|language=en|volume=25|pages=173–200|doi=10.1289/ehp.7825173|issn=0091-6765|pmc=1637197|pmid=363408}}</ref>  Widespread public outcry in the United States, partly communicated to Congress by postage-paid postcards supplied in the packaging of [[Sweetened beverage|sweetened soft drinks]], led to the retention of saccharin, despite its violation of the Delaney clause.<ref>{{cite book | title = Assessment of technologies for determining cancer risks from the environment | publisher = DIANE publishing | year = 1981 | location = Darby, Pennsylvania, USA | pages = 177 | isbn = 1-4289-2437-X }}</ref> However, in 2000, saccharin was found to be carcinogenic in rats due only to their unique urine chemistry.<ref name="Whysner-1996">{{Cite journal  | last1 = Whysner | first1 = J. | last2 = Williams | first2 = GM. | title = Saccharin mechanistic data and risk assessment: urine composition, enhanced cell proliferation, and tumor promotion | journal = Pharmacol Ther | volume = 71 | issue = 1–2 | pages = 225–52 | year = 1996 | doi = 10.1016/0163-7258(96)00069-1| pmid = 8910956 }}</ref><ref name="Dybing-2002">{{Cite journal  | last1 = Dybing | first1 = E. | title = Development and implementation of the IPCS conceptual framework for evaluating mode of action of chemical carcinogens | journal = Toxicology | volume = 181–182 | pages = 121–5 |date=December 2002 | doi = 10.1016/S0300-483X(02)00266-4| pmid = 12505296 | bibcode = 2002Toxgy.181..121D }}</ref>

In 2007, [[Food Standards Australia New Zealand]] published an official shoppers' guidance with which the concerns of food additives and their labeling are mediated.<ref name=crso>{{cite web| last =Food Standards Australia New Zealand| author-link =Food Standards Australia New Zealand| title =Choosing the Right Stuff – the official shoppers' guide to food additives and labels, kilojoules and fat content| year =2007| url =http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/newsroom/publications/choosingtherightstuff/| access-date =3 May 2009| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090514070251/http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/newsroom/publications/choosingtherightstuff/| archive-date =14 May 2009}}</ref> In the EU, it can take 10 years or more to obtain approval for a new food additive. This includes five years of safety testing, followed by two years for evaluation by the [[European Food Safety Authority]] (EFSA) and another three years before the additive receives an EU-wide approval for use in every country in the European Union.<ref name="efsa-1-25">{{cite web |title=Food additives |url=https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/food-additives |publisher=European Food Safety Authority |access-date=4 January 2025 |date=3 January 2025}}</ref> Apart from testing and analyzing food products during the whole production process to ensure safety and compliance with regulatory standards, [[Trading Standards]] officers (in the UK) protect the public from any illegal use or potentially dangerous mis-use of food additives by performing random testing of food products.<ref name="fsa">{{cite web |title=Food additives |url=https://www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/food-additives |publisher=UK Food Standards Agency |access-date=4 January 2025 |date=13 December 2024}}</ref>

There has been controversy associated with the risks and benefits of food additives.<ref name=fda-determine/> Natural additives may be similarly harmful or be the cause of allergic reactions in certain individuals. For example, [[safrole]] was used to flavor [[root beer]] until it was shown to be carcinogenic. Due to the application of the Delaney clause, it may not be added to foods, even though it occurs naturally in [[sassafras]] and sweet [[basil]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Fennema, Owen R. |title=Food chemistry |url=https://archive.org/details/foodchemistry00fenn |url-access=limited |publisher=Marcel Dekker |location=New York, N.Y |year=1996 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/foodchemistry00fenn/page/n940 827] |isbn=0-8247-9691-8 }}</ref>

===Hyperactivity===
Although concerns have been expressed about a linkage between additives and [[hyperactivity]], there is no clear evidence of [[causality|a cause-and-effect relationship]].<ref name="amchova">{{cite journal |vauthors=Amchova P, Kotolova H, Ruda-Kucerova J |title=Health safety issues of synthetic food colorants |journal=Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology|volume=73 |issue=3 |pages=914–22 |date=December 2015 |pmid=26404013 |doi=10.1016/j.yrtph.2015.09.026 |url= https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0273230015300751}}</ref>

===Toxicity assessment===
In 2012, the EFSA proposed the tier approach to evaluate the potential toxicity of food additives. It is based on four dimensions: toxicokinetics (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion); [[genotoxicity]]; subchronic (at least 90 data) and chronic toxicity and [[carcinogenity]]; reproductive and developmental toxicity.<ref name=amchova/>

===Micronutrients===
A subset of food additives, [[micronutrient]]s added in [[food fortification]] processes preserve [[nutrient value]] by providing [[vitamin]]s and [[Mineral (nutrient)|minerals]] to foods such as flour, cereal, margarine and milk which normally would not retain such high levels.<ref name="Weaver">{{cite journal | last1=Weaver | first1=Connie M | last2=Dwyer | first2=Johanna | last3=Fulgoni | first3=Victor L | last4=King | first4=Janet C | last5=Leveille | first5=Gilbert A | last6=MacDonald | first6=Ruth S | last7=Ordovas | first7=Jose | last8=Schnakenberg | first8=David | title=Processed foods: contributions to nutrition | journal=American Journal of Clinical Nutrition | volume=99 | issue=6 | date=23 April 2014 | issn=0002-9165 | doi=10.3945/ajcn.114.089284 | pages=1525–1542|pmid=24760975|pmc=6410904}}</ref> Added ingredients, such as air, bacteria, fungi, and yeast, also contribute manufacturing and flavor qualities, and reduce spoilage.<ref name="eufic">{{cite web | title=Food processing: The advantages of processed foods| date=1 May 2010 | url=https://www.eufic.org/en/food-production/article/the-greatest-thing-since-sliced-bread-a-review-of-the-benefits-of-processed | access-date=5 August 2019|publisher=The European Food Information Council}}</ref>