While the colloquial is well understood and @jlengrand shouldn't feel bad about using the word "chemical" in this way, on a nerd forum like this I think it's valid pedantry — our bodies are massively complex chemical reactions, and half the stuff I've borne witness to people in my life complaining about are genuinely useful one way or another, for example by preserving the food or making it taste better.

I understand and appreciate that you want the terms used to be correct. I feel that the tone you used probably rubbed people the wrong way. Had you for example corrected me and given me the correct terms and definitions, I'm quite sure people would have appreciated the gesture. Actually, even up to now I'm not 100% sure what I should have used :). Additives, preservatives, ...?

BTW, interestingly in a previous life I studied chemistry... Only always in French

While it may be useful to call out mystical woo when we see it, in this context the only thing doing so succeeded in was derailing the conversation.

We all understood the first time.

Exactly, I despise people who say things like "everything is made of chemicals" or "vegetables are carbohydrates" when they perfectly know exactly what I mean.