Food is any material eaten to give nutrition to an organism. Food is generally of animal, plant or fungi origin, and usually contains various essential nutrients, including vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, sugars, or other nutrients required for growth and maintenance. The word ‘food’ has various meanings, depending on the source; for instance, food used in chemistry is a substance that has a number of chemical substances bound together to make one compound. Food is also used in cooking, which simply means preparing food in order to eat it.
The use of food additives is widespread in the food industry, with nearly all foods being processed using some kind of additive to increase their flavor, color, nutritive value, or texture. These additives can be natural (such as sugar) or artificial (for example, salt). Most food additives are safe, but it is important to read the food label when purchasing food, and always read the ingredients to make sure there are no harmful ingredients added to your food.
Not only does commercial food have ingredients added to it to increase its shelf-life, but also to add flavor. Color additives are used for many things, from increasing stickiness of certain foods, like potato chips, to prolonging the shelf life of certain vegetables. Nutrient additives are often used to add nutrients that are missing from the food because it is not bio-available, or needed. Examples include vitamins and minerals, which are not naturally present in foods, to increase their amount in the diet. Artificial color additives are used as well, to give foods color, texture and flavor.