Food Chemistry
Ascorbic acid and its sodium, potassium, and calcium salts are commonly used as antioxidant food additives. These compounds are water-soluble and thus cannot protect fats from oxidation: For this purpose, the fat-soluble esters of ascorbic acid with long-chain fatty acids (ascorbyl palmitate or ascorbyl stearate) can be used as food antioxidants. Eighty percent of the world's supply of ascorbic acid is produced in China.
The relevant European food additive E numbers are
- E300 ascorbic acid (approved for use as a food additive in the EU, USA and Australia and New Zealand)
- E301 sodium ascorbate(approved for use as a food additive in the EU, USA and Australia and New Zealand)
- E302 calcium ascorbate(approved for use as a food additive in the EU, USA and Australia and New Zealand)
- E303 potassium ascorbate
- E304 fatty acid esters of ascorbic acid (i) ascorbyl palmitate (ii) ascorbyl stearate.
It creates volatile compounds when mixed with glucose and amino acids in 90 °C.
It is a cofactor in tyrosine oxidation.
Read more about this topic: Ascorbic
Famous quotes containing the words food and/or chemistry:
“The office of the prince and that of the writer are defined and assigned as follows: the nobleman gives rank to the written work, the writer provides food for the prince.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“For me chemistry represented an indefinite cloud of future potentialities which enveloped my life to come in black volutes torn by fiery flashes, like those which had hidden Mount Sinai. Like Moses, from that cloud I expected my law, the principle of order in me, around me, and in the world.... I would watch the buds swell in spring, the mica glint in the granite, my own hands, and I would say to myself: “I will understand this, too, I will understand everything.””
—Primo Levi (1919–1987)