Do preservatives add calories to food?
 

I'm curious to know if preservatives add calories to food...

Particularly, I bought a bag of raisins. The only ingredient other then the grapes is sulphur dioxide, and in brackets, the label explains that this was added as a preservative. Does it add extra calories to the raisins?

I feel a little silly asking this question :lol: Thanks!

P.S. Before posting this questions, I tried to find an answer on Google. All I got was a warning that long-term ingestion of sulphur dioxide can be harmful. It didn't explain how, or why.

I, like you, can't seem to find out definitively whether sulfur dioxide has any caloric value, but my question to you is, why would you like to know? In other words, adding a preservative such as sulfur dioxide to a fruit such as a grape or an apricot acts to preserve the dried item once the drying process is complete. Without it, your raisins would reach you at the grocery store all fuzzy and spoiled. When you ask if adding the sulfur dioxide "add[s] extra calories to the raisins" I suppose you'd have to compare a commercially-produced raisin to a grape you dried on your own. Certainly, the caloric content that Sun-Maid or whomever lists on its ingredient label takes into account the calories contained in the finished product. I think your initial thought process is a good one, as it has implications for buying a given food item in a preservative-free versus a preserved state; I just don't know that it has much impact when it comes to raisins.