Food additives, especially antioxidant preservatives, are key elements in the
food industry and production. Food antioxidants can be natural products such as
extracts and purified natural metabolites, or synthetic compounds. They act as radical
scavengers, chelators, quenchers, or antioxidant regenerators. Generally, food
antioxidants target the preservation of food without altering its taste and colour.
Synthetic antioxidants are cheap, easy to use and efficient as preservative agents;
however, consumers tend to seek natural antioxidants. This chapter focuses on the
different functional antioxidants such as polyphenols, tocopherols that can be used as
food additives. These compounds are characterized by different chemical structures and
different mechanisms of actions.
Keywords: Food additives, Natural antioxidants, Oxidation, Preservatives,
Synthetic antioxidants.
