Food additives are widely used in the food industry in order to ensure the
quality of products during processing, storage, packaging and subsequent reaching the
consumer's table. The growing concern and doubt of the consumer market regarding
artificial additives and their possible harmful effects on public health and safety have
caused the demand for the use of natural additives to increase. Consequently, these
natural additives have been increasingly sought by the food industry and consumers
due to health, safety and sustainability issues. In this framework, terpenoids have great
potential to be used with this function because they are a very extensive class of
compounds, with wide chemical diversity and several proven applications in foods,
mainly as anti-oxidants, anti-microbials, dyes, flavors, sweeteners and nutraceuticals.
Therefore, this paper aims to make a literature search on the use of terpenoids as food
additives, highlighting the main compounds used and the benefits associated with their
use, ranging from the raw material to its extraction and subsequent application in food
products.
Keywords: Secondary Metabolites, Additives, Anti-Microbials, Anti-Oxidants, Dyes, Food Industry, Food Chemistry, Flavorings, Food Preservatives, Healthy Life, Natural Additives, Natural Products, Nutraceuticals, Nutritional Fortification, Shelf Life, Sweeteners, Terpenoids, Terpenes.
