ts must be declared on the label in order of predominance (Winter 1984).
             The useful functions of food additives are often taken for granted, but their purpose is as varied as the foods in which they are used. Additives prevent salad dressings from separating, salt from becoming lumpy, and packaged goods from spoiling on the grocery shelf. They keep cured meat products safe to eat and give margarine its yellow color. The addition of vitamins and minerals to milk, flour, cereals, and breads was a key factor in the disappearance of diseases such as goiter, rickets, pellagra, and beriberi in the United States over the last fifty years. Since most people today are concentrated in big cities and their suburbs, additives help keep the nutritional and aesthetic quality of food from degrading while en route to markets. Additives also improve the nutritional value of certain foods and can make them more appealing by improving their taste, texture, consistency, or color (FDA/IFIC 1998).
             Some additives could be eliminated if we were willing to grow our own food, harvest and grind it, spend many hours cooking and canning, or accept increased risks of food spoilage. Most people have come to rely on the many technological, aesthetic, and convenience benefits that additives provide in food (FDA/IFIC 1998). We want "pretty" foods because consumers have been subjected to the beautiful pictures of foods in popular magazines and on television. Food purveyors are only responding to the changes in society (Winter 1984).
             Additives are used in foods for five main reasons. (1) To provide leavening or control acidity/alkalinity. (2) To enhance flavor or impart desired color. (3) To maintain product consistency. (4) To maintain palatability and wholesomeness. (5) To improve or maintain nutritional value (FDA/IFIC 1998).
             Many substances added to food may seem odd when seen listed on the ingredient label, but these chemicals that so...