Food additive is defined as various chemical substances added to foods to produce specific desirable effects. And it is intentionally added to food for a technological purpose in the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packaging, transport or storage of such food.

There are various kinds of food additives in China, including nutrient supplements, preservatives, flavors, sweeteners, food colorant, etc. Condiment accounts for a large proportion with the share of 30%, followed by hydrogenated colloid with the share of 17%.

As the important category of food additives, China's condiment markets were developing rapidly in recent years. The market scale showed a rising path in general from 2012 to 2017. It has reached 332.2 billion Yuan in 2017, increasing by 8.1% from a year earlier.

From the perspective of China's food additives output, it has also been rising steadily during these years despite of a slight drop in 2017. The output was 10.32 million tons, decreasing by 2.3% from 2016.

Though China's food additives industry started late, along with the stable development of China's food industry, food additives industry also developed very rapidly. In the past few years, the numbers of food additives enterprises were increasing constantly in China. In 2017, it reached 985 enterprises, increasing by 3% from a year earlier.