Survey on food additives potentially dangerous of marketed industrial product

Lotfi Ghellai

Volume 29, Issue 4;
Pages: 315-318; 2023
ISSN: 2069-0053 (print), Agroprint;
ISSN (online): 2068-9551

A total number of 247 participants were inquired via a questionnaire, 125 women and 122 men (sex ration 0.97). 142 (57,48%) of consumers had no information on potentially harmful food additives while 105 (42,10%) were aware but despite this, they have never consulted the labeling and do not use this information when buying their food products. According the age, the rate of sensitized consumers was 57,08% for individuals under the age of 40 years and 42,91% for individuals over the age of 40 years. This rate was 55,2%  and 41,8%  for women and men, respectively. A total of 101 food product labels were subjected for the study, including 71 products of local origin and 30 products from Europe marketed in Algeria. Potentially harmful food additives mentioned on packaging, for local products, were : tartrazine (E102), sunset yellow FCF S(E110), Cochineal Red A (E124), caramel (E150), carotenoids (E160), sodium benzoate (E211), carboxymethylcellulose (E466), mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (E471), lecithin (E322). titanium dioxide (E171), natamycin (235), phosphoric acid (338), gum arabic (414), mono sodium glutamate (621), and xylitol (967). Whereas, for the imported products, harmful food additives,were the following: Copper-chlorophyll and chlorophyllin complexes (E141), caramel (E150), lecithin (E322), calcium orthophosphates (E341), mono and diglycerides of fatty acids (E471), polyglycerol polyricinoleate (E476), and propylene glycol esters fatty acids (E477). In conclusion, the Algerian consumer, although he is informed of the potential danger of food additives, he is nevertheless neglectful when it comes to the consumption of these products. Further studies should evaluate the impact of harmful food additives on the health of the consumer.