What Are Food Additives?

Food additives are commonly used in the U.S. food supply to add flavor, texture, or a longer shelf life to products. They can come from natural sources, like spices and fruit peels, or they can be man-made. Some food additives have been shown to negatively affect human health, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has prohibited them from being used.

There are several categories of food additives, including colorants, sweeteners, antioxidants and preservatives, emulsifiers, and thickeners.

Colorants

• Quinoline yellow
• Tartrazine
• Red 40
• Yellow 5
• Yellow 6
• Blue 1
• Blue 2

Sweeteners

Common sweeteners include:

• Aspartame
• Stevia
• Sucralose
• Acesulfame potassium
• Saccharin

Antioxidants and Preservatives

• Phenols
• Aminophenols
• Aromatic amines
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin E

• Benzoic acid
• Sorbic acid
• Sodium sulfite

Emulsifiers

• Glycerol monostearate
• Lecithin
• Propylene glycol monoesters (PGME)
• Sorbitol-derived sorbitan esters
• Polysorbate fatty acid esters
• Calcium stearoyl lactylate (CSL)
• Sodium stearoyl lactylate (SSL)
• Propylene glycol alginate (PGA)
• Gum acacia

Thickeners

• Xanthan gum
• Guar gum
• Locust bean gum
• Pectin
• Cornstarch
• Rice flour

The FDA regulates direct food additives, or substances that are added to a food for a specific purpose and identified on a food ingredient label. Before a food manufacturer can use an additive in its products, the FDA must approve the additive. First, the manufacturer submits a petition outlining the ways the substance will be used. The FDA then consults with the U.S. Department of Agriculture if the food is to be used in meat or poultry items.

The way standard food additives enter the food supply are different from how these “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) ingredients do. “The former requires public notice and review of safety data by the FDA, and the latter does not,” says Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, the director of the Food Is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston. Companies are allowed to determine whether new chemicals are considered food additives or GRAS ingredients.

Dr. Mozaffarian referenced a 2022 report by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit that advocates for safer agricultural practices and chemicals, which suggested nearly 99 percent of new chemicals that entered the food supply since 2000 did so via the GRAS pathway. “Industry is choosing for themselves what to do, what's safe, and when to report it, which in practice means almost never,” Mozaffarian says.

The term GRAS stems from a 1958 law that required companies to show the ingredients in their foods were safe and established an exception for common ingredients. “The original intent of GRAS was to exempt common cooking ingredients that were used before 1958 — like salt, vinegar, or baking soda — from lengthy approval processes,” Thiel says. Now it allows companies to bypass FDA oversight when introducing new ingredients, she says. Mozaffarian says the GRAS pathway was initially intended to be the exception (and used only for common ingredients), but now the food additive pathway has become the exception instead.

Examples of GRAS Ingredients

• Baking soda, to help baked goods rise

  [9]

• Salt, to add flavor and act as a preservative

  [10]

• Gelatin, to gel, emulsify, and thicken

  [11]

• Cornstarch, to thicken

  [12]

• Lactic acid, to add flavor and act as a preservative

  [13]

• Soy sauce, for extra flavor

  [14]

• Vitamin A, to fortify foods

  [15]

Some critics argue that the way GRAS ingredients are tested is insufficient to prove their safety.  Namely, most of the GRAS testing involves animals and uses one additive at a time, Dr. Melanson says. “These days, with all the ultra-processed foods and beverages on the market, large combinations of food additives are being consumed,” she says. “Some products have more than eight artificial additives just on their own, and consumers may be eating them with other products that contain yet another combination.” She says that research should address that and determine whether it's safe. “That being said, innumerable combinations are possible, so it is not feasible to test them all,” Melanson says. “This is another reason why minimizing the number of different ultra-processed foods in people's diets is advisable.”

Food Additives Banned in the U.S.

• Calamus, calamus extract, calamus oil may cause intestinal cancer.

  [19]

• Cinnamyl anthranilate may cause liver cancer.

  [19]

• Cobaltous chloride may cause heart, lung, kidney, and liver damage or skin reactions.

  [21]

• Cobalt sulfate may harm the heart.

  [19]

• Coumarin may cause liver damage.

  [19]

• Cyclamate may cause cancer and damage to the testes.

  [19]

• Diethyl pyrocarbonate forms a carcinogen when combined with ammonia.

  [19]

• Dulcin may cause liver cancer.

  [19]

• Monochloroacetic acid is toxic.

  [19]

• Nordihydroguaiaretic acid may be toxic to kidneys.

  [19]

• P-4000 may be toxic.

  [22]

• Safrole may promote liver cancer.

  [19]

• Thiourea has a risk of liver cancer.

  [19]

• FD&C Red No. 3 (dye) increases the risk of cancer and is linked to brain development issues and behavioral difficulties in children.

  [23]

   In early 2025, Red No. 3 was officially banned in the United States, though manufacturers have until 2027 to remove it from their products.

  [24]

Food Additives Banned in California

• Potassium bromate is associated with cancer.
• Propylparaben may disrupt hormones and the reproductive system.
• Brominated vegetable oil may harm to the nervous and reproductive systems and thyroid function.
• Red Dye No. 40 is a risk to children’s brain development, may lead to behavioral difficulties, and may include carcinogenic components.
• Yellow Dye No. 5 is associated with harm to child brain development, behavioral difficulties, and genotoxicity, and may include carcinogenic components.
• Yellow Dye No. 6 has risks for children’s brain development and behavioral difficulties, may include carcinogenic components, and may increase cancer risk.
• Blue Dye No. 1 poses risks to children’s brain development and is linked to behavioral difficulties.
• Blue Dye No. 2 poses risks to children’s brain development, may lead to behavioral difficulties, and may increase the risk of cancer.
• Green Dye No. 3 is associated with risks to brain development and behavioral difficulties, and may increase the risk of cancer.

Food Additives Banned in Europe

Europe has banned additives that the United States has not. “The U.S. and European food systems operate under fundamentally different regulatory principles, shaping how food safety, ingredients, and quality standards are enforced,” Thiel says. Europe, for instance, follows the precautionary principle, which means that if a substance's safety is uncertain, it can be banned or restricted until proven safe. The United States, on the other hand, assumes a substance is safe until there is proven harm, so these ingredients are generally allowed unless significant risks have been found through science, she says. It's also worth noting that some additives have been banned in the United States but have not been banned in Europe, Melanson says.

The following food additives were studied in humans and animals and have been banned in Europe but not in the United States.

• Titanium dioxide: risk of damage to DNA, the nervous system, and the immune system

  [23]

• Potassium bromate: risk of cancer

  [23]

• Azodicarbonamide: risk of carcinogenic by-products

  [23]

• BHA and BHT: risk of cancer and hormone disruption

  [23]

• Bovine growth hormone: concerns about increased cancer risk and animal health

  [27]

• Food additives are substances that are added to enhance or change food in some way, such as by altering texture, flavor, or nutrient profile.
• Several food additives have been banned by the United States, and others have been banned in California and in Europe, because of the potential dangers research has shown they pose to human health.
• Indirect food additives are substances used in packaging or in the manufacturing process rather than added to the food.
• A category called Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) includes ingredients that have been deemed appropriate to add to foods by experts or the FDA.