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Sulfur Dioxide (E220): Why You Should Avoid The Preservative

Sulfur dioxide is a preservative in many foods and must be declared on the packaging. Manufacturers often indicate the substance as E220 in the list of ingredients. Here’s why the preservative is problematic.

Sulfur dioxide is a colorless gas that also occurs in nature. It can be dissolved in water and is then called “sulphurous acid” or as salts of sulphurous acid (E221 to E228):
E220: sulfur dioxide
E221: sodium sulfite
E222: sodium bisulfite
E223: sodium metabisulfite
E224: Potassium metabisulfite
E226: calcium sulfite
E227: calcium bisulphite
E228: potassium bisulphite
It doesn’t matter which of these substances the manufacturer uses – they must declare it on the packaging. So consumers know exactly that sulfur dioxide is contained.

The problem: The substance can lead to headaches and nausea and destroys vitamin B1. Therefore, sulfur dioxide must not be used in staple foods that are rich in vitamin B1.

sulfur dioxide in food

Sulfur dioxide is popular with manufacturers because it can be used in a variety of ways:
Sulfur dioxide blocks the growth of fungal and bacterial cultures and is therefore a good food preservative.
Colourants, vitamins and aromas are slowly broken down when they come into contact with oxygen. Sulfur dioxide can prevent this or slow down the process significantly. Products therefore stay fresh longer and do not turn brown, explains the Bavarian State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL).
Sulfur dioxide or the salts are particularly common in the following foods:
Potato Chips
salted dried fish
pearl barley
Sun-dried tomatoes
dried fruit
Meat and fish substitute products
finished products
Wine

How dangerous is sulfur dioxide for health?

Some people are sensitive to sulfur dioxide: People with allergies may experience asthmatic reactions after eating foods containing sulfur, according to the LGL. Examples include asthma attacks and allergic reactions.
Normally, the enzyme sulfite oxidase ensures that the body breaks down sulfur dioxide. However, some people have little of this enzyme. Then, after eating foods containing sulfur, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and headaches can follow.
There have also been anaphylactic shocks with circulatory collapse. After a restaurant guest died after eating in Canada, additives containing sulfur were banned in restaurants there.
There is also evidence that the intestinal mucosa is damaged.
In smaller amounts, foods with sulfur dioxide do not pose a health risk, explains the Federal Center for Nutrition. Also not for pregnant women and babies. Only allergy sufferers should be careful and check whether they notice an allergic reaction. However, we advise everyone against eating products with sulfur dioxide. Because the preservative destroys vitamin B1, which is important for the metabolism and can only be ingested through food. Most products are also available unsulphured, such as dried apricots.

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Sodium Nitrite (E 250): Use, Effect and Risks of The Preservative

Sodium nitrite is found in various foods in artificial and natural forms. You can find out in this article whether the preservative is harmful to health.

What is sodium nitrite?

Sodium nitrite is the sodium salt of nitrous acid, also known as hydrogen nitrite. Manufacturers usually use artificially produced sodium nitrite to preserve meat and sausages.

Sodium nitrite is an essential component of pickling salt. In addition, it gives meat products a more intense color and the typical “cured flavor”. The sodium salt itself is crystalline and colorless to slightly yellowish. You can find it under the number E250 in the list of food additives. It occurs in particularly high amounts in cured meat, duck or foie gras and sausages.

Sodium nitrite also occurs naturally in some nitrate-containing vegetables, as the nitrate present converts to nitrite under certain conditions. Vegetables with a particularly high nitrate content are, for example:
spinach
lettuce
Kohlrabi
radish
beetroot
On the one hand, the absorbed nitrate can be converted into nitrite in the body by bacteria in the mouth and stomach. With incorrect storage and poor hygiene, however, the conversion can also take place in the food itself.

How dangerous is sodium nitrite?

Sodium nitrite is a health concern. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that in excessive amounts it can impair or even completely prevent oxygen transport in the blood. This usually cannot happen in adults: they have an enzyme that prevents the effects of sodium nitrite on the blood.

In infants, however, this enzyme is not yet sufficiently developed. Therefore, if they consume too much nitrite, in the worst case this can lead to death by asphyxiation. Children who suffer from a gastrointestinal infection or other digestive problems should also avoid nitrite. In a damaged digestive tract, there is a greater risk that nitrate will be converted into nitrite.

When sodium nitrite is heated, as is the case when frying cured meat, for example, so-called nitrosamines are also formed. These have turned out to be carcinogenic in animal experiments. The extent to which these results can be transferred to humans has not yet been scientifically clarified.

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