With the rapid increase of the total amount of global industrial food and the progress of chemical synthesis technology, the variety of global food additives continues to increase, and the output continues to rise.According to data reports, at present, the world's application of food additive varieties have up to more than 25,000 kinds (80% of which are spices), the direct use of 3000-4000 kinds, which are commonly used 600-1000 kinds.Due to the differences in the requirements and technologies of food safety control in different countries, the variety and range of food additives allowed to be used are also different.For example, the FDA of the United States has announced the use of 2922 kinds of food additives, of which 1755 are regulated.About 1,100 food additives are used in Japan;The European Union allows 1,000 to 1,500.In China, there are 1524 kinds of food additives that are allowed to be used.

At present, the definition of food additives in different countries in the world is different, and some varieties are also used as important chemical raw materials in other industries, so it is difficult to accurately calculate the global production and sales of food additives.According to authorities, the current world food additive market sales of about $16 billion, including the United States, Europe, Japan and other developed countries of the market share accounted for more than three-quarters of the global total, and the developing countries including China less than a quarter of the market share, this fully testifies to the food industry as the leading economic technology developed countries use the amount of food additives, far more than economic and technological laggard.With the development of food industry and the improvement of human requirements for material, food additive development still has a huge space, is expected in the next several years international food additives sales total growth rates for years in a 2.5-4%, the thickening agent, preservatives, sweeteners, sour agents, colorants, nutrition enhancer (vitamins, amino acids), and other species will remain stable growth.