Yaji Spice: No Additives, Just Pure Flavor
- No additives maintain the true, traditional flavor of Yaji Spice.
- No additives mean fewer allergens and potential health concerns.
- Pure ingredients guarantee fresher, better flavor.
Try Our Additive-Free Spices Today
Yaji Spice Is Committed to Pure Ingredients
Yaji Spice is committed to offering customers the purest ingredients possible. In a world where food products are filled with additives, our online spices store offers spices that are 100% additive-free. That means there are no chemical preservatives, no color enhancers, no emulsifiers. Just pure, raw spice.
Why do we take such pride in being additive-free?
Food additives can come at a hidden cost. They can negatively impact your health and the environment. We explore everything from gut health to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) below.
First, What’s an Additive?
We’ll start by defining our terms.
Oxford Languages defines a food additive as “a substance added to something in small quantities to improve or preserve it.” This definition highlights a few key aspects of what food additives are and how they function. Let’s break down the key term, “substance.”
The word “substance” is crucial because it shows how food additives are not typical ingredients in food. Food additives are not natural ingredients that come from plants or animals. Instead, they are often synthetic, concocted in a lab setting.
Food additives are often created for a very specific purpose in the lab. Whether it’s to prevent clumping and maintain a consistent texture of spices, or to prolong the shelf life of seasonings and blends, food additives do offer some distinct advantages.
We highlight some of them below.
The Benefits of Food Additives
Additives Help Prevent Clumping
When exposed to moisture in the air, spices can sometimes clump or cake. This is inconvenient for cooking purposes, like when you’re measuring out a teaspoon of spices to sprinkle over a meat or vegetable dish. Anti-caking agents are a solution to this problem. Manufacturers use them to ensure that the spices pour freely and do not clump.
Additives Ensure Long Shelf Life
Some spices can spoil if not protected over time, which is why many manufacturers use preservatives to retain freshness. Preservatives stop the growth of microorganisms like bacteria, mold, and yeast in spices. Microorganisms like these can cause food to spoil and lead to health risks. Preservatives are one of the most common types of food additives, but we don’t use them in our spices. Our spices naturally last for a whole two years on the shelf.
Additives Can Enhance Flavors
Additives like monosodium glutamate (MSG) are commonly used in the food industry to enhance flavors. MSG is used in many seasoning blends instead of extra salt. This can control sodium levels in the body, but it potentially comes at a cost. That’s because there is ongoing research into whether MSG and other flavor enhancers cause negative reactions to the people consuming them.
Different Types of Additives
Reducing clumping, ensuring long shelf life, and enhancing flavors are all compelling reasons to use additives. However, there are many reasons to avoid them as well. There are some health and environmental concerns surrounding additive use. First, we’ll break down the different types of additives. Then we’ll cover their drawbacks.
Understanding Different Types of Food Additives
There are more than 20 different types of food additives: preservatives, antioxidants, colorants, flavor enhancers, emulsifiers, stabilizers and thickeners, sweeteners, acidulants, anti-caking agents, leavening agents, humectants, sequestrants, glazing agents, gelling agents, propellants, bulking agents, foaming agents, flour treatment agents, emulsifying salt, firming agents, bleaching agents, and enzymes.
We will focus on seven different food additives and their drawbacks.
Anti-caking agents.
Anti-caking agents are used to prevent clumping of the seasoning blend. They work by either absorbing moisture or coating particles to keep them dry. They prevent ingredients from sticking together.
Regulatory agencies such as the FDA recognize anti-cake agents as safe. However, the long-term effects of consuming anti-caking agents have not been studied extensively. Gastrointestinal issues and other health concerns may occur if there’s excessive intake of anti-caking agents.
Another drawback of using anti-caking agents is that they degrade any Vitamin C found in food. Vitamin C is an antioxidant that is very beneficial to overall health. It helps protect your cells against free radicals, which may play a role in cancer and heart disease. It is also vital to the healing process and helps to absorb and store iron. Anti-caking agents degrade Vitamin C, meaning that your body won’t absorb as much. Your body doesn’t naturally produce Vitamin C; you need to receive it through your diet.
Preservatives.
Preservatives protect the long shelf life of spices. Some can be natural, while others are artificial or chemical. Artificial preservatives like sodium benzoate and calcium propionate work by inhibiting the growth of bacteria, mold, and yeast.
So, what are some of the downsides of using preservatives in food?
One study by InChem suggests that food preservatives can weaken heart tissue, while MayoClinic suggests removing foods with preservatives can decrease breathing problems and asthma.
A specific type of preservative, sodium benzoate, has been found to significantly impair memory and motor coordination. Both are crucial to overall brain health.
Sodium benzoate can also form a carcinogen (benzene) when combined with ascorbic acid. Though the levels of food are typically low, it is a troubling risk.
Overall, calcium propionate is safe. However, in rare cases, it may lead to headaches or migraines.
Flavor Enhancers.
Flavor enhancers like monosodium glutamate (MSG) take flavors to the next level. MSG is commonly found in processed foods and seasonings.
Though concrete evidence is lacking, MSG has been linked to headaches, rapid heart palpitations, chest pain, nausea, numbness, flushing, sweating, and weakness. It may be best to avoid flavor enhancers like MSG until more studies have been conducted.
Other types of flavor enhancers include disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate, “new” forms of MSG. These have been linked to behavioral problems in children, heart problems, circulatory issues (swelling), neurological issues like depression or mood swings, respiratory problems, skin problems, urological issues, and visual issues.
Colorants.
Colorants enhance the vibrancy and colors of the spices. They can be classified by origin, solubility, or hiding power. Most are classified according to their origin, natural or artificial. Natural colorants can be obtained from plant tissue, animal cells, metabolism of microorganisms, or mineral sources. Artificial colorants are synthetically produced for characteristics like purity, color, brightness, a variety of shades, stability, uniformity and reproducibility in production, and low cost.
Due to research on the side effects and toxicity problems of some synthetic dyes, natural dyes have become more popular.
One lemon yellow dye, tartrazine, has been linked with hyperactivity and obsessive-compulsive disorders in children. Tartrazine is used in soft drinks, candies, cakes, jellies, and ice cream. It is also present in spices, such as turmeric. Tartrazine can cause allergies, such as asthma and hives.
Sunset yellow, carmoisine, allura red, and ponceau 4R have been related to pro-inflammatory activity. Inflammation includes discolored or flushed skin, pain and tenderness, swelling, skin that feels hot to the touch, and an inability to use that part of your body the way you typically would.
Some food dyes also contain benzene, a cancer-causing agent. The red dye amaranth is banned in the US for its carcinogenicity.
Due to the impact of artificial colorings on health, more research is being conducted into natural food colorings. Until the middle of the last century, dyes used in food were of natural origin. Saffron, orcein, cochineal, caramel, red beet, alizarin, and indigo are some food dyes extracted from plants.
Emulsifiers.
Emulsifiers blend spices together and help retain the flavor of the food. Emulsions are used in many foods, including seasonings and sauces. The emulsifier works by creating a physical barrier between the oil and water droplets while dispersing them within each other. The result is a blended mixture that is smooth and homogenous.
Emulsifiers include soy lecithin, gelatin, and mono- or diglycerides.
One concern with soy lecithin is that it’s derived from soybeans that may have been genetically modified (GMO). According to the World Health Organization, genetically modified foods can be defined as “Organisms (i.e. plants, animals, or microorganisms) in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination.”
In the case of soybeans, they transfer genes like herbicide resistance from one organism to another.
Many individuals buy organic products in place of GMOs like soybeans. There are several advantages to eating organic food. For example, it contains more nutrients in the form of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and micronutrients than non-organic food. Eating organic also can reduce your risk of cancer.
Besides being healthy for people, organically grown food is healthy for the environment. It contains no pesticides like insecticides or fertilizers. It also improves soil health, stops harmful chemicals from getting into our water, reduces greenhouse gases, and promotes greater biodiversity.
There are powerful reasons for avoiding GMOs like soy lecithin.
Sweeteners.
Sweeteners are used to give food and beverages sweet tastes. They work by binding to sweetness receptors as if they were sugar. The artificial sweeteners taste sweet without adding calories. Common sweeteners include aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, and stevia, among others.
Aspartame is marketed as Equal and can come with possible side effects, including certain types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, toxicity in the kidneys, toxic liver disease, preterm delivery, and harmful changes to the salivary glands.
Saccharin, also known as Sweet’N’Low, can be used in weight loss and cavity prevention. But it can also lead to imbalances in gut health. This may lead to type 2 diabetes or obesity, or in very rare cases, cancer.
Sucralose is an artificial sweetener that’s marketed as Splenda. It’s found in items such as packaged foods, ready-made meals, desserts, chewing gum, drinks, and toothpaste. Sucralose is like saccharin as it also leads to imbalances in gut health. In fact, it can lower the number of good bacteria in your gut by half. It also increases inflammation, according to studies done on animals.
Stevia is another common type of sweetener. Replacing sugar with stevia can also come with possible side effects, including nausea, bloating, low blood pressure, and hormone disruption. Both Truvia and Pure Via are stevia-based.
Overall, artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, and stevia can have a negative impact on health. Some are bad for gut health, while others are more general health concerns.
Acidulants.
Acidulants provide a sour or tart taste to food. The most common are acetic acid and citric acid. Acetic acid is found in vinegar, some fruits like apples and grapes, and certain fermented food. Citric acid is found in fruits like limes, lemons, and berries. oranges, grapefruits, pineapples, tomatoes, broccoli, and carrots.
Some spices contain citric acid, and it can be added to spice blends as a flavor enhancer. Acetic acid can be added as a raw ingredient to spices.
While these acids are not harmful in and of themselves, eating food that is too acidic has been known to have a negative health impact. There are two types of acidic food: when the pH content of the food is itself acidic, or when the food creates an acidic environment in your body. When the food creates an acidic environment, it’s known as high acid-forming.
A long-term study of 15,000 people found that people who ate more acid-forming foods were more likely to develop kidney disease at some point. People with CKD exhibited worsening kidney function as well. High acid-forming foods include meat and fish.
The alkaline diet, when people limit acid-forming foods, has not been studied widely enough to provide concrete results. Generally, when following the alkaline diet, one eats a lot of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts.
Health and Environmental Concerns
Additives like anti-caking agents, preservatives, flavor enhancers, colorants, emulsifiers, sweeteners, and acidulants can help keep spices colorful, flavorful, and long-lasting, but some side effects must be considered. Health concerns are at the forefront, but there are also environmental impacts.
Our Spices Are Additive-Free
Here at Yaji Spice, our spices are completely free of additives. Our spices are naturally flavorful and vibrant, with no need for flavor enhancers or colorants.
Visit Our Online Spices Store
- Visit our online spices store for a versatile dry spice rub or all-purpose dried spice blend. You’ll be making a healthy choice and supporting women farmers at the same time.
Please note: While no nuts are added to the Nut-Free Suya Spice Blend, Yaji Spice operates in facilities that may process nuts and therefore cannot guarantee the absence of trace allergens. Yaji Spice bears no responsibility for any allergic reactions or related incidents.
