According to GB2760-2011, food additives can be natural substances extracted from natural products or artificially synthesized substances. Synthetic food additives are food additives produced by artificial synthesis. The food additives can be naturally present in nature or have not been found in nature.

People are always wary and suspicious of synthetic food additives.

Humans use synthetic food additives because of several insurmountable difficulties:

①The content of natural products in nature is very low, and the total amount cannot meet the needs of human beings. Therefore, artificial synthesis methods have to be used for large-scale preparation;

②The content of natural products in nature is very low, and the cost of obtaining this substance from natural raw materials in the prior art is too high, and it does not have the conditions for commercial production and use; usually, when the purity requirements are the same, the artificial synthesis method is simpler than the natural ingredient extraction method. , low cost, easier to mass production;

③ The performance of natural products cannot meet the needs of food processing and manufacturing, and humans need to obtain food additives that meet the requirements and are safe. Natural products with low purity may cause misjudgment of the harm, and even multiply the harm. So, natural is not necessarily safer.

Compared with natural food additives, synthetic food additives also have the advantages of stable quality, small price fluctuation, production is not restricted by geographical conditions such as climate and environment, and stable supply is guaranteed.