Preservatives & Antioxidants

“Preservatives” is now a well known word. Preservatives help to keep our food from spoiling- keeping hamburger in our refrigerators, cereal in our cupboards and Twinkies on the shelves at the local convenient store. Preservatives are also used in paint, wood and pharmaceuticals to prevent them from decomposing. Currently, there is no regulation requiring the labeling of food preserving chemicals. In food, preservatives prevent the oxidization of food, much like antioxidants. However, interest is growing to replace synthetic antioxidants with more popular natural antioxidants such as rosemary, vitamin E and vitamin C. New research suggests that a combination of plums and apples may be used as an ingredient in pre-cooked meat without a significant change in flavor. This could potentially mean that your next breakfast sausage could be made with fruit and have health benefits! Stay tuned to more on this topic! - Community Assistant