Food additives is point to improve food quality and color, flavor, taste, as well as the need for anti-corrosion, preservation and processing technology to join the synthetic or natural substances in food. Including nutrition fortifier, food spices, gum base candy based agent and food industry processing aids.
Over the past century, with the modernization of food industry, food additives industry also got rapid development, the production continues to rise, the species and varieties is becoming more and more various, has become a new force of fine industrial. At present, the world’s food additives varieties has reached more than 25000。
After nearly 20 years of efforts, the food additive industry in China has also got great development, the total output value accounts for about 15% of the international food additives trade. In 2004, the main food additives production reached 3.48 million tons, more than 80% higher than in 2000, increased to 7.62 million tons in 2011
With the rapid improvement of technology and management level of the industry , product costs have fallen sharply, markedly improved the competitiveness of the products in the international market, the monosodium glutamate, lysine, VC, VE and xanthan gum production holds an absolute advantage in the world, monosodium glutamate, citric acid, xylose, and spices such as ethyl maltol in product yield is the world’s first, our country food additives sales of about 72 billion yuan in 2010, which exports about $20 billion, accounts for about 26% of sales.
The main objective of China’s export of food additives in USA, Japan, Germany, for American South Korea, Russia, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Turkey and Brazil etc.. According to the different needs of the local market, food additives are also different types of export. Such as the Japanese market with citric acid, VC, VC sodium, potassium sorbate, glycine, xylitol as the main varieties
At the same time, in order to promote China’s food export trade and to ensure food safety, the relevant government departments has also intensified the management of export food additives production industry. Provisions of the Ministry of health, quality inspection administration and other nine departments: after June 1, 2009 the new food additives production enterprise, standard quality, inspection methods of food additives production must conform to the state standards, trade standards, and must be made in accordance with the law of industrial products production permit before engaging in the production of food additives.
Food development trend in twenty-first Century is natural, nutrition, safety, and health. Food additives is closely related with food must take this as criterion. People always put health in the first place, with the improvement of people’s lives, such as nutritious food, health food, green food, has become a hot food consumption market, which is closely related with the natural food additives.