Antioxidants
Tuesday 9 October 2001
Any food prepared with fats or oils - from meat pies to salad creams - is likely to contain antioxidants.
They reduce the chance of oils, fats and fat-soluble vitamins from combining with oxygen and changing colour or going rancid.
Antioxidants are also used in a wide range of other foods including bakery products, soup mixes and sauces.
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is one of the most widely used antioxidants.
Others include butylated hydoxyanisole or BHA (E320) and butylated hydroxytoluene of BHT (E321).
In high doses, BHA and BHT may cause cancer in rats. But at low doses, such as those permitted in foods, they appear to protect against cancer.
The FSA and antioxidants
The Food Standards Agency carries out work on antioxidants to ensure that their presence in food does not compromise food safety.
The use of antioxidants in food is controlled in this country by the Miscellaneous Food Additives Regulations 1995 (SI 1995 No. 3187), as amended by SI 1997 No. 1413, SI 1999 No. 1136, SI 2001 No. 60, SI 2001 No. 3775 and SI 2003 No. 1008.
Please contact the Stationery Office for copies of these regulations. From 2000 separate regulations are made in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
For more information please contact:
clifford.gedling@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk tel: 020 7276 8570.
Related links
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