|
| | Food Portal |
| This article does not cite any references or sources. (March 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
An ingredient is something that forms part of a mixture (in a general sense). For example, in cooking, recipes specify which ingredients are used to prepare a specific dish. Many commercial products contain a secret ingredient that is purported to make them better than competing products. In the pharmaceutical industry, an active ingredient is that part of a formulation that yields the effect required by the customer.
National laws usually require prepared food products to display a list of ingredients, and specifically require that certain additives be listed.
In most developed countries, the law requires that ingredients be listed according to their relative quantity in the product. If an ingredient consists of more than one ingredient (such as cookie pieces in cookies and cream ice cream) then that ingredient is listed by what percentage of the total product it occupies, with its own ingredients displayed next to it in brackets.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia