Children's health protection is associated with the health protection of community. One of the important factors in raising healthy generations is natural nutrition. It is necessary to determine knowledge and attitudes of mothers about food additives in order to protect children's health specifically and community health in general. Therefore, the study aims to determine the knowledge and attitudes of the mothers about food additives. The descriptive study was carried out in pediatrics polyclinic of private medical center in the province of Malatya, Turkey, between July-November 2014. The study population consisted of mothers who had children in the 1-12 age group, admitted to pediatric polyclinic. The whole study population was studied without any sampling (n=405). 'Personal Information Form', 'Attitudes Towards Food Additives Knowledge and Behaviors Scale' (ATFAKBS) were used for collecting research data. In the analysis of data, percentage values, t-test, OneWay ANOVA, Cronbach's alpha coefficient were used. In the study, it was found that average attitude score for knowledge was 14.68±3.84, the average attitude score for the behavior was 29.83±5.89, the total score average was 44.52±8.79, the maternal educational level and economic status were effective on the total ATFAKBS, subscale scores. In the comparison of mean ATFAKBS scores and some additives considered harmful by the mothers due to food additives, it was found that the difference between the groups was statistically significant, that children's feeding from the school cafeteria affected attitudes towards knowledge, that feeding from the school canteen had an effect on the attitude towards knowledge and behavior as well as the total ATFAKBS score (p<0.05). In the study, it was determined that mothers' mean scores were higher than the mean value and some descriptive features were effective on the attitudes of mothers.