Food Additives, Part 1: Sherbet and other E number experiments
The Food Programme
BBC
4.4 • 977 Ratings
🗓️ 22 September 2019
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From Vitamin C and fruit-flavoured sherbet, to the chemicals adding flavour to ultra-processed foods - Sheila Dillon delves into the world of food additives, to learn about the impact E Numbers have had on modern diets.
Sheila meets with food scientist and entertainer Stefan Gates, for some entertaining and surprising E Number experiments in his lab-kitchen...
She also hears more about the background to food additives from Stacey Lockyer at the British Nutrition Foundation; and explores some of the impacts, questions and controversies around these added extras, with gut microbiome expert Professor Tim Spector, and science policy professor Erik Millstone.
Following this introduction to the world of additives, The Food Programme invites listeners to get in touch and share their questions and thoughts on these ingredients, ahead of a panel discussion on the role of additives in our everyday lives, taking place in front of a live audience next week.
Presented by Sheila Dillon; produced in Bristol by Lucy Taylor.
Transcript
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| 0:44.5 | Okay, so what we're going to do is we are going to create an acid-based reaction in your mouth. |
| 0:53.6 | Okay, and now if you don't mind, |
| 0:55.3 | I'm going to get you to taste some of these |
| 0:57.1 | and tell me what they're like. |
| 0:58.1 | You mind you drink of, intensely, oh God. |
| 1:00.4 | Yeah, that's what, quick, grab some absolutely a dream. Oh my God. |
| 1:03.0 | So what was the sensation you were getting from that? |
| 1:05.0 | Acid, lemon. |
| 1:07.0 | Yeah. That was presumably citric acid. |
| 1:09.0 | That's citric acid. |
| 1:10.0 | That's citric acid. Okay. |
| 1:11.0 | So here is chemical number two, it's a very fine powder. It's very hard to describe |
... |
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