# Food and feed additives: Overview

What keeps bread soft and drinks stable on the shelf

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/overview/

What this tab covers What the chemical is, how big its market is, what it is used for (with shares, volumes, why it wins and what could replace it), and its chain from raw material to end user. Ends with three things to remember.

Food additives are small-dose ingredients that keep processed food stable, safe and appealing: emulsifiers, starches and gums, preservatives, antioxidants, sweeteners, colours and enzymes. Feed additives do the same job for livestock: amino acids, vitamins, enzymes, minerals, probiotics and, newly, methane-reducing additives. Most are made from maize, soy, palm oil and sugar by milling, fermentation or chemistry. Food additives were worth about $65.5 billion (IMARC) and feed additives about $48.2 billion in 2025 (MarketsandMarkets). For a climate fund, feed additives are one of the few levers on livestock methane and nitrogen emissions.
 Volume not published as a family tonnage Market value about $113.7 billion (2025): food additives $65.5 billion (IMARC) plus feed additives $48.16 billion (MarketsandMarkets); MarketsandMarkets also gives food additives $73.4 billion for 2023 on a wider definition Growth food additives 4.44% a year 2026-2034 to $97.9 billion (IMARC); feed additives 6.0% a year 2026-2031 to $67.90 billion (MarketsandMarkets) IMARC Food Additives Market 2026-2034; MarketsandMarkets feed additives (2026) and food additives press release

#### Key uses

| Use | Share | Annual volume | Why this commodity | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Bakery and confectionery (emulsifiers, enzymes, hydrocolloids, preservatives, sweeteners)** | 18% | about $20.5 billionbasis | Emulsifiers and enzymes keep bread soft and stop staling; propionates stop mould; polyols and high-intensity sweeteners cut sugar in sweets. IMARC 2026 (application list); share indicative | Sourdough and clean-label processes Shorter shelf life |
| **Beverages (sweeteners, acids, preservatives, stabilisers, colours)** | 14% | about $15.9 billionbasis | Soft drinks need acids, sweeteners and benzoate or sorbate preservatives; sugar taxes push high-intensity sweeteners and stevia. IMARC 2026 (application list); share indicative | Sugar Cold-chain and aseptic packaging instead of preservatives |
| **Convenience foods, dairy, frozen desserts, sauces and dressings** | 25.6% | about $29.1 billionbasis | Starches and gums give texture to sauces, yoghurts and ice cream; flavour enhancers (MSG, yeast extracts) and antioxidants serve instant noodles and snacks. IMARC 2026; derived | Whole-food thickeners (flours) Fresh cooking |
| **Poultry feed (amino acids, enzymes, vitamins, coccidiostats, probiotics)** | 18% | about $20.5 billionbasis | Broilers convert feed fastest when diets are balanced with synthetic methionine and lysine, so less soybean meal is needed. Phytase releases phosphorus from grain. MarketsandMarkets 2026 (segments named); share indicative | More soybean meal and fishmeal Inorganic phosphate |
| **Swine feed** | 12% | about $13.6 billionbasis | Lysine, threonine and tryptophan let pig diets carry less crude protein, which cuts feed cost and nitrogen in manure. China's pig herd is the largest buyer. indicative | Higher-protein diets |
| **Ruminants, aquaculture and pets (incl. methane-reducing additives)** | 12.4% | about $14.1 billionbasis | Dairy and beef cattle use minerals, vitamins, yeasts and, increasingly, enteric methane inhibitors; fish feed uses astaxanthin and vitamins. derived; indicative | Pasture-only systems |

 Only the food and feed totals are sourced ($65.5 billion IMARC; $48.16 billion MarketsandMarkets, 2025), giving 57.6% food and 42.4% feed. Splits within each are indicative orders of magnitude; IMARC lists applications without shares, and MarketsandMarkets gives no livestock shares.

#### From raw material to user

1. **Crops** Maize (world use 1,319 Mt in 2025/26, 62.5% for feed), soybeans, palm oil, sugar and seaweed supply starches, lecithin, glycerides, fermentation sugar and gums (maize and soybeans tiles, USDA WASDE Oct 2026).
2. **Processing** Wet milling gives starch and glucose; oilseed crushing gives lecithin; fats and glycerine are esterified into mono- and diglycerides.
3. **Fermentation and synthesis** Lysine, threonine, citric acid, xanthan, enzymes and some vitamins are fermented from sugar; methionine, sorbates, benzoates and some vitamins are made by chemical synthesis.
4. **Blending and premixes** Ingredient firms (Kerry, IFF, Cargill, ADM) make functional blends for food; feed premixers combine vitamins, minerals and amino acids for feed mills.
5. **Use** Dosed at fractions of a percent into food and feed; most is digested or metabolised.

#### Made from (commodity table)
[Mz Maize](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/maize/)[Soy Soybeans](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soybeans/)

#### Three things to know

- Food and feed additives together were worth about $114 billion in 2025, with feed growing faster at 6.0% a year (IMARC; MarketsandMarkets).
- Amino acids are expected to be 28% of the feed additive market by 2031, the largest type (MarketsandMarkets).
- Soybean oil, a feedstock for lecithin and emulsifiers, rose from $912/t in Feb 2024 to $1,781/t in May 2026 (World Bank via soybeans tile).

#### Read the tabs
[Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/routes/)[Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/production/)[Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/feedstocks/)[Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/cycles/)[Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/trading/)[Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/movement/)[Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/regulation/)[Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/characteristics/)[Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/emissions/)

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/correlation/index.md)
- [Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/routes/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/production/index.md)
- [Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/feedstocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/movement/index.md)
- [Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/regulation/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/food_additives/links/index.md)