Food additives are substances, natural and otherwise, which are added to food to preserve the food, or enhance taste or appearance. Some are associated with problems such as allergies, others have no known problems and we would really struggle without them.

The various additives are commonly known as “E Numbers”, and they range from vinegar to gold to chemicals with unpronounceable names. There are currently around 1,520 E numbers allocated across the various categories.

For a list of food additives, and their categories, see Wikipedia.

For more information try the website Understanding Food Additives.