Salads may be good for your health, but can also cause cancer it seems.
For those outside Europe who are unfamiliar with the naming of food additives, each additive is assigned a code called “E numbers” which are prefixed with an “E” followed by a number.
The code for sodium benzoate, for instance, which is found in a number of common foods such as barbecue sauce, salad dressing, and soft drinks, is E211. On its own, E211 has not been proven to have an adverse effect on human health. But researchers have found that when it reacts with vitamin C it creates a known carcinogen called benzene.
For Kristina Saudergaite, not knowing the effects of the codes she was putting in her stomach prompted her to start inBelly (Swedish), an app to simplify and provide on-demand information about food additives.
Saudergaite found many products in Sweden containing additives that are banned in Australia, Canada, and the US. While information and public documents about food additives exist, they are presented in a scattered and complicated manner, and are unlikely to reach the wider public, especially when they need it the most.
Upon scanning the product barcode, inBelly refers to the information from academia and food inspection agencies and shows the user simple visual signs indicating that the product either has food additives banned in other countries, dangerous food additives, questionable food additives, safe food additives, or no food additives.
Food additives have long been used to preserve food, enhance flavour, or restore colour lost during food preparation. But let’s be clear. Not all food additives are harmful. As a matter of fact, the code for vitamin C is E300, vitamin B2 is E101, and paprika extract is E160c. Yet sometimes it may be best to avoid food additives altogether. Saudergaite explains that the elderly may be much more susceptive to the adverse effects of food additives even when they are marked safe by the EU.
inBelly, one of the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship Stockholm’s (Swedish) incubator companies and a recipient of the City of Stockholm Innovation award in 2012, is currently working with preschools to help them choose better food. They also plan to work with nursing homes to check the food they serve to the elderly.
To make the innovation financially sustainable, inBelly offers makers of additive-free products the opportunity to advertise on the app at the point of purchase.