Food additives, originally designed to support and progress humanity while providing a fast and secure food source to increase life expectancy. The progression of food technology began with agriculture, which originated in the Fertile Crescent, this expansion has progressed humanity to their newest invention, food additives. Food additives are substances added to food products to enhance texture, flavor, appearance, or preservation of food. In recent years food additives have been geared towards improving the safety, freshness, taste, and nutritional value of the food products. Food additives began to be implemented during the World Wars. The United States (U.S) had thousands of men who left for war and women working in factories, which required more food supplies.
This led to an increased manufacturing of processed foods and food additives to meet supply demands (Springate pars. 4-6, Huebbe par. 6). As the technology of food additives began to advance so did the regulation on the food additives. During the 19th century the U.S began to increase the amount of chemicals added to food for the purpose of preserving and decreasing food waste. With the inclusion of this new technology, food products had improved in flavor and shelf life; however long-term effects went unstudied and health risks unaccessed.
In 1937, a solvent, ethylene glycol, was put on the market with no chemical safety testing. The solvent led to more than 100 people dying across fifteen different states. Soon after president Franklin Roosevelt amended the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, which Guyer 2 prohibited harmful substances being added to foods. The Food and Drug Admisionation (FDA) required companies to provide evidence that their food additives were safe to consume. Furthermore, this amendment led to providing more authority to the FDA while ensuring the safety of the general public (Lam par. 1). However, while this primarily prevents short term health risks it did not take into consideration long term health risks. In 1958, they added an amendment to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that prohibits any food additive added to a food product before being approved by the FDA; this amendment was called the Delaney Amendment (Standards pars. 1-4).
The impact of this amendment was to prevent additives with lethal effects; however, our food is still being contaminated by food additives that result in chronic long term health issues. In 2001, perchlorate, a chemical that easily dissolves in water, and known to be used in rocket fuel, fireworks, and explosives was found in the urine of all 2820 Americans tested. Perchlorate within the food industry was a conductivity enhancers and an antistatic agent for dry food packaging. Although the chronic risks of long term exposure to Perchlorate had found severe health risks for pregnant women and the cognitive development of said pregnant womens infants. However, the FDA approved the usage of Perchlorate twice, in 1963 and 2005 (Maffini par. 6).
