Food additives are substances added to food to affect the flavour, appearance, shelf life, nutritional content, etc. In Australia, food labels use numbers between 100 and 999 to classify them. Despite what most people assume, there are plenty of natural additives. For example, additive 300 is vitamin C, 100 is turmeric, and 948 is oxygen! Additives have been used throughout history, such as calcium sulphate (516), a firming agent used in tofu for thousands of years.

Food additives are regulated by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), and all additives must get approval first. Many food additives approved for use in Australia are banned overseas. While the majority of food additives are considered safe, some have been associated with a range of food intolerance symptoms in some people. These include hyperactivity, headaches, gastric irritation, behavioural disorders, learning difficulty, cancer, skin rashes, and asthma symptoms.

Another ethical issue relates to consumers' lack of agency over the additives they consume. While numbers are a practical way to classify them, almost no one will memorise every number. As a result, consumers have to go beyond the label to understand what is in their foods. Combined with the lack of education on the potential harms of some food additives, this makes it more difficult for consumers to make informed decisions about their dietary choices.

What can you do?