Preservatives, additives are generally used to help stop, edible products from being spoiled and giving desired taste, color, texture and. Like sodium thiosulfates, oxalic acid, sodium benzoate, sodium nitrates, sodium citrate and benzoic acids are a few food additives which find consumption on very large scale. But these all major preservatives have multipurpose use in all forms of liquid and solid packaged food and are also responsible for creating negative health issues. This review deals with the few food preservatives very commonly used in Indian sub-continent and their side effects.