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Food additives in confectionery industry – Current and emerging scenario
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Saturday, 29 August, 2020, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Joshna Joseph
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Confections are food items that contain high amounts of sugar and carbohydrates. Confectioneries are mainly classified into two categories:
1. Baker confections which include pastries, cakes and other baked items that are mostly flour based.
2. Sugar confections which include hard boiled candies and chocolates, which are mostly sugar based.
Food additives are required in the confectionery industry to provide confectionery items with good taste, prolonged shelf life, improved texture and appearance.
As sugar is one of the main ingredients in the confectionery industry, it is also an additive in the confectionery industry. Sugar or sweeteners are divided into two types, nutritive sweeteners which have calorific value and include sucrose, honey maple syrup and glucose syrup and non-nutritive which does not have calorific value includes saccharine, acesulfame K and aspartame.
Colouring agents are the additives that are used in the confectioneries to make the confectioneries more appealing and attractive. Colouring agents are classified into 3 categories, namely, natural colours, natural identical colours and synthetic colours. Natural colours include carotenoids, betalains, quinninoids and flavonoids, which are mainly obtained from plant sources but natural colouring agents do not have pH and heat stability while nature-identical and synthetic colours are heat-stable.
Flavouring agents as additives help in enhancing of flavours of confectionery, which make it more palatable. Flavouring agents are classified into 3 categories, namely, Natural flavours, nature-identical flavours and synthetic flavours. Natural extracts like herbs, spice, oleoresins and essential oils are used for flavouring the confections.
Emulsifiers are food additives which are used in confectioneries to prevent the separation of mixture of oil and water. In chocolates, emulsifiers help in giving it a smooth texture. Chocolates when not stored in proper temperature may result in the formation of blooms which are undesirable. To prevent the formation of blooms emulsifiers such as lecithin (E-322), ammonium phosphatide (E-442), polyglycerol polyricinoleate (E-472c) and Sorbitan tristearate (E-492) are used. Diacetyltartaric and fatty acids of esters (E- 472e) are used as dough conditioners, Sodium lactylate (E-481) and Calcium lactylate (E-482) help in improving the dough strength and texture.
Emulsifying agents used for chewing gums are mono and diglycerides of fatty acids (E-471), acetic acid esters of mono and diglycerides of fatty acids (E-472 a) and sucrose esters of fatty acids (E-473), these emulsifiers do not let the gums to stick inside the mouth and help in the formation of bubbles.
Gelling and stabilising agents are used to give the confectionery a proper texture. There are various types of gelling agents which are used for providing a good texture or for glazing and coatings. The most common ones used are alginates, xanthan gum, guar gum, gelatin, gum arabic, gum acacia and pectin.
Leavening agents such as sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate (E-500) and Ammonium bicarbonate (E-503) are used to aerate some products such as cakes, crackers, biscuits and cookies. It also provides good texture to the products.
Enzymes are also used as an additive in the confectionery industry. Various kinds of enzymes are used to speed up some important processes in the preparation of confectioneries. It also helps in reducing the staling of a product. Enzymes such as alpha- amylase (E-1100) are added to the dough to increase the sugar content as it breaks down the starch and also speeds up the process of proofing. Proteases (E-1101) are an enzyme used in flours to reduce the mixing time and also help in giving muffins a porous texture.
Since, some of the confectioneries also contain high amounts of fats, it becomes essential to use antioxidants to prevent rancidity. Antioxidants such as Ascorbic acids (E-300), Sodium ascorbate (E-301), Calcium ascorbate (E-303), Potassium ascorbate (E-303), Tocopherols (E-306) and citric acids are used in the confectionery industry.
Acidity regulators are used to control the fermentation of the dough or leavening by increasing the acidity of the product which in turn reduces the growth of spoilage causing microorganisms such as mould, rope and bacteria. Acetic acid (E-260), Sodium acetate or diacetate (E-262), Calcium acetate (E-263) and Sodium hydroxide (E-524) are used as acidity regulators in the confectionery industry.
Other additives used in the confectionery industry include sulphur dioxide ( E-220) which helps in improving the texture of biscuits and pastry flour. Sodium metabisulphite (E-223) is a preservative used in biscuits and pastry fours, L-ascorbic acid (E-300) and L-cysteine hydrochloride (E-920) are used as improving agents in baked goods. Chlorine (E-925) and chlorine dioxide (E-926) are used as bleaching and improving agent in cake flour. Acids like citric acid, fumaric acid, tartaric acid, lactic acid, malic acid are used to maintain the pH or may also be used as buffers. For prevention of fermentation in the confectioneries, acetic acid, sorbic acid and phosphoric acids are used.
Labelling of the additives along with their E numbers and which class the additive belongs is a compulsory requirement by the FSSAI. Only additives which are mentioned in the list must be added in the product and should meet the quantitative requirements given by FSSAI.
The confectionery industry in India is growing rapidly due to an increase in urbanisation.
Also, additives play an important role in improving the texture, flavour and other sensory attributes of the confections. To provide healthy confections to the people, the confectionery industry is striving hard to create products with health benefits and add quality to the product. Addition of additives gives an extra advantage to the confectionery industry without which the attributes of the confections would not come out perfectly.
(The author is assistant quality assurance manager, Candor Foods Pvt. Ltd, Navi Mumbai. She can be contacted at joshnajoseph162@gmail.com)
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