What are antioxidants ? Give two examples.

Explanation

Antioxidants. Antioxidants are one of the important and necessary food additives. These compounds retard the action of oxygen on food, thus reducing its speed of decomposition by oxidation. Hence, they help in the preservation of food. These act as sacrificial material, i.e. these are more reactive towards oxygen than are the materials they are protecting. These also reduce the rate of involvement of free radicals in the aging process, e.g. the most familiar antioxidants used are Butylated Hydroxy Toluene (BHT) and Butylated Hydroxy Anisole (BHA).