Stefan Gates on E Numbers

'Stefan Gates on E Numbers' is a myth-busting celebration of 'E's--the additives and preservatives that make up Britain's most feared ingredients. Most of the food we eat has them yet we are hugely suspicious of them and believe that they cause everything from twitchy eyelids to colon cancer. In this book Stefan discusses just how bad our food would taste, how wrong it would look and how potentially lethal it would be if we didn't have E numbers. You may not realize that many of the finest foods on the planet (including caviar, fine hams and wines) rely on E's. And if you think nature is good and Es are bad, you'd be the natural world is awash with dangerous toxins (apples contain cyanide, potatoes contain toxic solanine), yet E number substances make up 99.99% of every breath you take. Stefan analyzes all 319 Es approved for use in food and also talks about labelling issues (how to understand them), how much you can safely eat and what, if anything, is wrong with cheap food. He also investigates the scare stories, allergies and potential downsides of the multi-billion pound food industry. If you don't like Es you don't have to eat them but you should make that choice based on facs not fear. Without E numbers we would not have supermarkets. Without this book you cannot make an informed decision about what you are buying and eating.