Food Additives

1) Food additives (pick two additives such as nitrites, nitrates, BHT, BHA, sodium benzoate, sulfites,
MSG, potassium iodide, calcium propionate, benzoyl peroxide, calcium phosphate, calcium sulfate,
ammonium chloride, magnesium carbonate), discuss history, current usage.
2) Discuss chemical structures (draw them) of these compounds and how they work to preserve food.
3) You may want to select a few foods such as bread, meats, fast foods and various packaged foods and
discuss the additives found there.
4) What are the negative health effects of these additives?
5) What are the positive effects of using food additives?
6) How is your diet? After researching this subject are you planning to alter your diet? How will you do
this?
7) How effective is the federal government (FDA) with respect to keeping us informed about these
various additives? Are the FDA and USDA doing their job? What else could they do to improve
their performance? Do you think that these government agencies should be shut down and that the
food industry should be allowed to regulate itself?