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eat!
Choose carefully.
As usual, the UK is about a mile behind the rest of the world with it's policy on
food additives. Even known problem additives which are now banned in
several other countries are freely used in the UK and in our shop bought
children's foods. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) shrugs it's defiant
shoulders and leaves it up to us to sort out for ourselves, preferring to wait for
the results of yet more research. Don't bother! If you or your child has asthma,
is hyperactive, behaves like a little monster, if you have arthritis or any allergic
reactions, internal or external, check all the foods in your cupboard against
this list. You may be surprised at what you discover.
The capital 'E' in front of the number means that additive has been passed for food use throughout the
European Community. As a general rule, E numbers from E100 -199 are colourings, E200 - 299 are
preservatives, E300 - 399 are acids, antioxidants and mineral salts, E400 - 599 are vegetable gums,
emulsifiers, stabilisers and anti-caking agents, E600 and above are flavour enhancers, E900 - 1500 are
miscellaneous. An E number does not always mean 'artificial' - for example, of the 46 permitted food
colours, 21 are "natural" - that is they occur in nature and are extracted from vegetable and animal
sources. Of course, the other 25 are "not natural". Many additives just replace a more expensive
ingredient with a cheaper one.
Not all E Numbers are bad for you! But enough of them have been banned around the world for us to
take note of what we take into our bodies as "food".
Because of the bad press given to E numbers over the last 20 years or so, food manufacturers have
started to give the full chemical name rather than the E number. This is because, even if you CAN read
it, you're much less likely to look it up. Just printing an E number encourages consumers to be curious.
Printing the chemical name distracts us and steers our thoughts toward acceptance. We are much more
likely to think something like, "It must be safe because they've printed it on the packet". I hate this kind
of double-bluff!