An Access database will be designed and developed to store and enable the analysis of information about food additives listed on food product labels (economy and branded). Selection of product types will be influenced by secondary data on common foods consumed by different socio-economic groups. The data from around 1200 products, representing 20 product lines and around 60 products, will be entered. A report will be prepared that compares the additives found in economy foods with those in other branded food items.
A wide variety of brand types of certain foods are now available in the market place, and there has been a perception that 'economy' foods contain a greater number of additives. A scoping study is required to assess the range of additives declared as used in retail economy foods compared with other brands (own-brand or mainstream) of equivalent food items. This labelling information will be used to identify additives for future analysis.
<p>Find more about this project and other FSA food safety-related projects at the <a href="http://www.food.gov.uk/science/research/" target="_blank">Food Standards Agency Research webpage</a>.