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Yeh 1
Food Additives and Applications in Food Processing
Yeh, Fang-Ting
fangtingyeh@gmail.com
California State University, Long Beach (CSULB)
Department of Family and Consumer Science
1250 Bellflower Boulevard, Long Beach CA 90840

ABSTRACT
Experiment was done to determine effect of additives on various food samples.
Analysis of natural versus synthetic extracts was done on vanilla, almond, and peppermint
through smell of the samples. Ranking test was performed on four coded coke samples and
the result in descending order of sweetness is as following: 135, 372, 080, 563; where 135
refers to original coke, 372 refers to diet coke, 080 refers to coke zero, and 563 refers to life
reduced calorie coke. Effect of hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide on color, texture, and
pH of various samples were also analyzed. Result of pH after samples were treated with acid
are as following: 4.22 (broccoli), 3.38 (cauliflower), 3.20 (red cabbage), 3.13 (carrot). Result
of pH after samples were treated with base are as following: 10.44 (cauliflower), 10.08
(carrot), 8.50 (broccoli), 6.81 (red cabbage).
Key Words: Food Additives, Acidulants, Hydrochloric Acid
INTRODUCTION
Food additives are chemicals commonly used in food industry to maintain or improve
quality of food. Food additives are regulated and monitored by the Food and Drug
Administration and are used in processes of food production such as producing,
manufacturing, and treating of food. Food additives are only allowed if it is proven to
accomplish the designated effect of food. Regulation of food additives include Food, Drug,
and Cosmetics act amended in 1958 and the Delaney Clause. The purposes of food additives
are: to maintain or improve nutritional value, to maintain freshness of food, to aid in
processing or preparation processes, and to make food more appealing. However, food fraud
is also found to be commonly related to food additives. Food fraud is deceiving the consumer
and disguising inferior products, as well as replacing good manufacturing practices and the
use of additives may be above necessary.
Some examples of food additives include antioxidants, preservatives, nutritional
additives, color modifiers, flavoring agents, emulsifiers, gelling agents, acidulants, and fat
replacers (Moghtaderi and others 2016). Acidulants are the food additives that make food
sour or acidic while altering taste. The main purpose of adiculants is to control microbial
growth in foods. According to Nostro and others (2013), acidulants control microbial growth
by impacting the biolfilm formation. Moreover, acetic acid, lactic acid, and hydrochloric acid
are studied to be effective on reducing the growth of Listeria innocus and Escherichia coli
(Jung and others 2014). Examples of acidulants include citric acid, acetic acid, phosphoric
acid and hydrochloric acid; in fact, the acid used in this experiment was hydrochloric acid.
The overall objective of this experiment was to analyze synthetic versus natural
extract, analyze various sweeteners that were added into samples, as well as determine
qualitative measurements and pH of various vegetable samples.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Paired Comparison of Natural and Synthetic Extracts
Evaluation was done on paired extracts by smelling the coded samples from left to
right. Samples included were natural extract and synthetic extract of vanilla, almond, and
peppermint. Next, Xs were marked for the extract that may be natural or synthetic.


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Yeh 2

Ranking Test of Various Sweeteners in Beverages (Coke)

Cracker and water were consumed 30 seconds before tasting coke samples. Above
instruction was repeated between each tasting. Next, sample coke coded 135, 372, 080, 563,
were tasted from left to right and the four samples were ranked in descending order of
sweetness. Name of sweetener added in each samples were then disclosed and recorded.
Effects of Additives on Plant Pigmentation
Red cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and carrot were cut into pieces and were 15-20 g
of each samples were placed into 3 beakers each labeled control, acid, and base. One hundred
mL of distilled water was added to beakers labeled control; 100 mL of 0.1N hydrochloric
acid (HCl) were added into beakers labeled acid; and 100 mL of 0.1N sodium hydroxide
(NaOH) were added to beakers labeled acid. Next, saucepan half filled with water was
brought to simmer and all beakers were placed into the saucepan for 5 minutes. Color,
texture, and pH of the solution and vegetables were observed and results were recorded.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Paired Comparison of Natural and Synthetic Extracts
Samples vanilla 1, almond 2, and peppermint 1 were observed to be synthetic
extracts; however, the above samples were natural extracts. Samples vanilla 2, almond 1, and
peppermint 2 were observed to be natural extract; however, the above samples were synthetic
extracts. Food fraud was observed for samples peppermint 1 and 2; both samples were natural
extract. According to the experiment done by Boyce and others (2003), it was focused on the
flavor components in natural vanilla extract and synthetic flavoring using electrophergrams;
the synthetic flavorings were easy to identify from natural flavoring due to their simple
electropherograms containing only ethyl vanillin or ethyl and vanillin. On the other hand,
natural vanilla extract contained 0.18 (mg/ml)2 of 4-Hydroxy benzaldehyde and 0.16
(mg/ml)2 of 4-Hydroxy benzoic acid along with 0.06 (mg/ml)2 of vanillic acid and 2.04
(mg/mg)2 vanillin. Experiment done by Boyce and others (2003) showed significant
difference in components between synthetic and natural extract of vanilla using
electrophergrams, this may be linked to this experiment that the smell of the synthetic and
natural extract may be due to the different components between products.
Ranking Test of Various Sweeteners in Beverages (Coke)
Coded coke samples in descending order of sweetness is as follow: 135, 372, 080,
563. Coke 135 is the original coke with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) sweetener added;
total of 65 g of sugar in one bottle. Coke 372 is diet coke with aspartame sweetener added
and 0 g of sugar in one bottle. Coke 080 is coke zero with aspartame and acesulfame
sweeteners added; 0 g of sugar in one bottle. Coke 563 is life reduced calorie coke with cane
sugar and stevia added; 24 g of sugar is in one bottle. According to study done by
Sathyapalan and others (2015), aspartame is a commonly used intense artificial sweetener
due to it being approximately 200 times sweeter than sucrose. This finding relates to result of
this experiment as that coke coded 372 and 080 were ranked higher in sweetness than coke
coded 563 despite coke coded 563 contain greater amount of sugar than coke 372 and 080.
Coke 563 contains cane sugar tasted less sweet than coke 372 and 080 which contain
aspartame.
Effects of Additives on Plant Pigmentation
Result of the pH for red cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and carrot are as shown in
Figure 1. Result of color and texture for the samples are as shown in Table 1 and Figure 2.


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Yeh 3

Effect of acid on texture of vegetables are raw/firm vegetables, except acid on red cabbage
result in a softer/softest among the control red cabbage and base red cabbage. Effect of base
on vegetables are soft vegetables, except base on red cabbage result to be elastic/chewy in
texture. Effect of acid on color of vegetables are lighter color of the shade or the same color
as the control, except acid on broccoli result in dull green broccoli. Effect of base on color of
vegetable are not uniform. According to Samara and others (2009), an experiment was done
on the effect of acid on lettuce. The results of the experiment showed that 1% acid (lactic
acid, acetic acid, propionic acid and citric acid) contribute to negative effect on the overall
appearance of lettuce. This finding is related to green vegetables such as broccoli used in this
experiment because only broccoli resulted in negative effect (dull green) after the use of acid.
Moreover, lower acidity due to acidulant is proved by Nostro and others (2013) to have lower
bacterial growth in foods. A pH of lower than 5 is sufficient to prevent or decrease bacterial
growth in foods (Nastro and others 2013). In this experiment, all samples after treated with
acid produced a pH lower than 5. Although the experiment did not test for bacteria growth,
the pH is significantly low therefore little bacteria is allowed to grow in samples treated with
acid in this experiment.
CONCLUSION
Analysis of natural versus synthetic extract was done on sample vanilla, almond, and
peppermint; peppermint extracts were observed to be susceptible to food fraud. Ranking test
was done on various coke samples and the sweeteners added were disclosed. Effect of acid
and base on color, texture, and pH of various vegetable samples were analyzed. Analysis of
food additives is applicable to food industry because many customers considered food
additives as harmful and the trend of natural food additives is rising in recent years. Food
additives is also applicable to the food industry because in order to avoid food fraud, food
companies need to understand how much and what kinds of additives are acceptable for
different products.


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REFERENCE
Boyce MC, Haddad PR, Sostaric T. 2003. Determination of flavor components in natural
vanilla extracts and synthetic flavorings by mixed micellar electrokinetic capillary
chromatography. Analytica Chimica Acta 485(2):179-86. doi: 10.1016/S00032670(03)00413-6.
Jung J, Cavender G, Zhao Y. 2014. The contribution of acidulant to the antibacterial activity
of acid soluble a- and b-chitosan solutions and their films. Appl Microbial Biotech
98(1):425-35. doi: 10.1007/s00253-013-5334-7.
Moghtaderi M, Hejrati Z, Dehghani Z, Dehghani F, Kolaho N. 2016. Sensitization to food
additives in patients with allergy: a study based on skin test and open oral challenge. Iranian J
of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology 15(3):198-203.
Nostro A, Cellini L, Ginestra G, DArrigo M, Giulio M, Marino A, Blanco A, Favaloro A,
Bisignano. 2013. Staphylococcal biofilm formation as affected by type acidulant. APMIS
122(7):648-53. doi: 10.1111/apm.12210.
Samara A, Koutsoumanis KP. 2009. Effect of treating lettuce surfaces with acidulants on the
behavior of Listeria monocytogenes during storage at 5 and 20C and subsequent exposure to
simulated gastric fluid. Intl J Food Microbio 129(1):1-7. doi:
10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2008.10.023.
Sathyapalan T, Thatcher NJ, Hammersley R, Rigby AS, Pechlivanis A, Gooderham NJ,
Holmes E, Roux CW, Atkin S, Courts F. 2015. Aspartame sensitivity? A double blind
randomized crossover study. PLoS ONE 10(3):1-13. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0116212.


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Yeh 5

APPENDIX

pH
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

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Figure 1: pH of various samples after treated with acid and base. Courtesy of FangTing Yeh

Figure 2: Sample vegetables after treated with acid and base. Photo Courtesy of FangTing Yeh

Table 1: Color and texture of various samples after treated with acid and base. Courtesy of Fang-Ting Yeh
Red Cabbage
Color
Texture
Control
Purple
Hardest
Acid
Pink
Softest
Base
Dark purple/blue
Elastic/chewy
Cauliflower
Control
White
Raw/firm
Acid
White
Raw/firm
Base
Yellow/creamy white
Soft
Broccoli
Control
Crisp green
Firm
Acid
Dull green
firm/raw
Base
Brighter crisp green
Soft
Carrot
Control
Orange
Firm
Acid
Orange
Firm
Base
Orange/yellow
Softest

Yeh 6