Food additives are compounds that are added to food in order to maintain or improve its flavour, texture, freshness, or overall look. Food additives can be created synthetically, or they can be derived from minerals, plants, animals, or a mix of these. Since making meals on a large scale vs preparing them on a small scale at home is very different, food processing necessitates a wide range of additives. There are thousands of food additives in use, and each one is designed to improve the food's safety or appeal in a specific way. The types of food additives, their applications, the process for approving them, contaminants in them, the toxicity of the main ones, the health risks associated with them, international standards for the safe use of food additives, and the market for them will all be covered in this book chapter.