What Are Flour Additives and What Are They Used For?

When talking about mass-market products that are easy to find on supermarket shelves, we often come across the term food additives, or natural or synthetic substances that are used to achieve a specific result: in particular as a coloring, preservative, antioxidant, emulsifier, thickener or to regulate flavor. According to U.S. food labeling regulations, they must be declared on the label with the abbreviation FA followed by their common or usual names and must comply with the quantities required by law. Additives are also used in baking and can be found in finished products, such as loaves or sandwich bread, as well as in packages of flour, from soft wheat to semolina, through the selected ones that are best suited to making fresh pasta or pizza to aid leavening, add color to the dough, or provide greater or lesser extensibility.

But these are not the only agents that have positive effects on the final result: flours also contain improvers tout court such as malt, used in the form of malted wheat flour and added to activate fermentation more quickly, or dry gluten, which is obtained by drying washed wheat flour in water, so as to eliminate the starch, and is added to flours to increase the capacity to develop the gluten mesh.

Another category is that of technological adjuvants, which help in the processing: the most used in baking are enzymes, in particular alpha and beta amylase, which serve to balance the enzymatic activity of the flours, to accelerate or stabilize the fermentation and maturation process over time.

In flour packages, it is difficult to find improvers and adjuvants listed on the label, as it is not mandatory, but there are no additives either. Why? Because the most commonly used ones are classified as adjuvants, thus respecting their legislation. Let's see what they are.

What Additives Are Added to Flours and What Are They Used For?

As we have seen, flour is not immune to the addition of substances that can give advantages on the yield of the final product, acting in particular on its rheology, or how it reacts during the kneading phases, in contact with yeasts and water. Additives are always subjected to food safety controls by the guarantor authorities, the FDA for the U.S. By law, the following 4 additives are currently permitted in flours.

1. L-Cysteine

L-cysteine is a synthetic amino acid used as a flour treatment agent that has the role of loosening the gluten mesh, giving it greater extensibility, also helping to limit the retractability of pizza dough. It is usually used to correct a strong flour used in short manipulations: it is not authorized in organic.

2. Ascorbic Acid

Ascorbic acid, commonly called vitamin C, is used in baking to improve the gluten mesh, as it is a gluten strengthener. It is therefore useful for increasing the elasticity of a dough and promoting the ability to absorb water, thus giving the finished product a better alveolation. Is it therefore good for your health? In reality, there are no consequences on your well-being, since it is a substance that volatilizes with the high temperatures of cooking and therefore disappears.

3. Phosphoric Acid, Phosphates, Di-, Tri- and Polyphosphates

This is a large group that includes phosphoric acid, sodium phosphates, potassium phosphates, magnesium phosphates, diphosphates, triphosphates, calcium phosphates and polyphosphates, derived from the phosphate family. The main functions are those of antioxidants, acidity regulators and leavening agents. These reinforcements cannot be used in products marketed as organic. The daily intake amount is 40 milligrams per kilogram of body weight in healthy individuals according to an EFSA opinion in 2019, brought down because although they are naturally found in various foods, phosphates are among the most frequent additives in foods and food supplements: taking too many could lead to cardiovascular problems in people who suffer from mild or severe kidney dysfunction.

4. Silicon Dioxide and Silicates

Silicon dioxide and silicates are currently under special observation. They are anti-caking and whitening chemicals, added to flour (and other foods) in the form of a very fine powder that prevents lumps from forming when in contact with external humidity. As reported by Il Salvagente, in recent years the food safety of silicon dioxide has been questioned as it could contain some nanoparticles that are harmful to intestinal health, with the development of inflammation, as highlighted by Altroconsumo, and promote the onset of celiac disease according to recent studies by the French INRAE, the National Institute for Research on Agriculture, Food and the Environment. The scientific community does not yet have any compliant negative views, so its use is completely legal.