Study of the presence of some food additives in non alcoholic beverages in the Republic of Macedonia

Food additives are used in the modern food industry for maintaining food quality as well as promoting food safety. Additives are used in foods to replace the taste lost in processing, enhance their texture or appearance, prolong the shelf life, and stop food from decaying. They are also used to enhance the flavour, to give an extra taste to the food products and to make foods more appealing. The use of food additives in foodstuffs is regulated by European legislation and only authorised additives may be used in food specified in the legislation. Authorisation in this context means that the additive is included in a “positive” list as laid down in the legislation. In order to assure the quality of soft drinks, as well as their safety for human consumption, the main objective of this study research has been the determination of the presence of food additives in soft drinks produced and imported in the Republic of Macedonia The results obtained from the study showed that the most prominent additives in the imported soft drinks were found to be preservatives potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate, which were present in 80% of tested samples. Synthetic colorants were present in 44% of tested the samples, caffeine in 69% , artificial sweeteners in 78%, quinine chloride in 74% and citric, ascorbic and phosphoric acid in 73% of tested soft drinks. In domestic brands, preservatives were found in 21.0% of tested samples, artificial sweeteners in 75%, and synthetic colorants in 87.4%. The concentrations of caffeine, quinine chloride, citric acid, phosphoric and ascorbic acid in domestic brands of soft drinks were found to be similar to those found in imported samples. Soft drinks take an important part in the total daily intake of food additives. Therefore, the constant monitoring of their presence in non alcoholic beverages is needed to ensure compliance with food safety regulations as well as for calculating risk assessment Key words: food additives, colorants, preservatives, sweetener