E numbers, short for Europe numbers, are codes for substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance taste, appearance, or other sensory qualities, including those found naturally in many foods.
E-100
Turmeric, unlike synthetic dyes, is not just safe, it’s beneficial. Curcumin is widely studied for its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and digestive-supporting properties. This makes E-100 unique: it doesn’t just color food, it adds nutritional value too.
E-120
Carmine, food colorant of natural origin with red or purplish-red pigment, obtained from cochineal. A red dyestuff extracted from the dried bodies of certain female scale insects native to tropical and subtropical America.
E-160b
Annatto, is an orange-red food coloring derived from the seeds of the achiote tree.
This additive is used inter alia in cheese, as the yellow and orange milk’s shades vary throughout the year as the cow’s feed changes. In order to sell the same cheese all year long, the dairies add colorants.
E-542
Bone Phosphate – a food additive widely used in the food and cosmetic industries.
It is typically extracted through the industrial processing of animal bones using steam, hot water, and high pressure.
Excessive consumption of E-542 can lead to health concerns, such as Calcium Depletion, Tooth enamel erosion, Osteoporosis, Delayed bone growth.
E-621
Monosodium Glutamate – better known as MSG – is simply the sodium salt of glutamic acid, one of the 20 amino acids from which our body builds proteins. And it’s responsible for one of the most fascinating tastes in the culinary world – UMAMI.
Our body makes glutamate, uses it as a neurotransmitter, and receives it from nearly every natural food containing protein.
Shellac – is a natural resin and glazing agent, produced by a lac bug, an insect which lives in the forests of India and Thailand.
Small insects living on trees suck up nutritious juices from the tree and secrete them through their skin pores as resin.
Shellac is used in food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.