Question : Which of the following food additives is an antioxidant ?
(1) Butylated hydroxyanisole
(2) Cyclamate
(3) Sodium metabisulphite
(4) Amaranth
answer : In all above the options the correct answer is (1) Butylated hydroxyanisole , the Butylated hydroxy anisole is written as BHA in short. BHA acts in contact with 02 (oxygen) light and heat to retard food degradation. antioxidant are those substances which are made by human or these substances can be natural , these antioxidant substances prevent some type of cell damage or these substances can produced delay in cell damage. for example these substances can used in prevent the food for long time.
Butylated hydroxyanisole is a example of antioxidant or antioxidant can be used as antioxidant for food additives. it prevent the food them from getting oxidised or in another words preventing them from going rancid.
Butylated hydroxyanisole is an antioxidant which contains the mixture of two isomeric organic compounds which are as follows
- 2-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole
- 3-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole.
structure of these compounds is given below –
