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In the food industry, sodium gluconate is used as a food additive to impart acidity, enhance the taste of food, prevent protein denaturation, improve undesirable bitterness and astringency, and replace salt to obtain low-sodium, sodium-free food.

Application of sodium gluconate in the food industry

Regulating the acidity of the food

Sodium gluconate is widely used in the beverage industry to ensure the quality of beverages and also to protect against the destruction of beverage ingredients caused by excessive temperatures caused by conventional sterilization methods, and to save energy.



Substitute for salt in the food industry

Studies have reported the use of sodium gluconate instead of salt for bread fermentation, not only to ferment low sodium bread, but also to reduce salt without affecting its overall flavor and shelf life.



Improving food flavor

Sodium gluconate improves bitterness, and the sodium gluconate salt inhibits the bitterness of bitter compounds and their binary combinations to varying degrees.
Different doses of both sodium gluconate and zinc lactate salts were applied to caffeine and found to inhibit caffeine bitterness. The above studies indicate that sodium gluconate has a modulating effect on flavor substances that present bitterness.



Improving food quality

As a new type of food additive, sodium gluconate not only improves the flavor of food but also enhances the nutritional properties of food.

What is crystalline fructose? Why are more and more food and beverages, especially nutritional products, choosing to use crystalline fructose? In fact, you may not know as much about crystalline fructose as you think.

What is crystalline fructose

Crystalline fructose, namely hexoketose, is a naturally occurring sugar and is the sweetest, with a sweetness 1.3-1.8 times that of sucrose.
Crystalline fructose is easily soluble in water (solubility is 3.5g/mL at 20℃) and ethanol, insoluble in ether, and is an odorless white crystalline powder.
It is stable to light and heat, and easily absorbs moisture. Pure fructose is colorless needle-shaped or trigonal crystals, so it is called crystalline fructose.

Crystalline fructose is metabolized faster than glucose in human body, easily absorbed by the organism, and does not depend on insulin, and has little effect on blood sugar, so it is suitable for glucose metabolism and liver insufficiency patients to replenish energy, and can inhibit the excessive storage of fat in human body when eaten with fat, and it also has the characteristics of promoting the reproduction of beneficial bacteria, improving intestinal function and metabolism, promoting calcium absorption, and not causing tooth decay.
Like sucrose and maltose, crystalline fructose can be digested and absorbed by the small intestine and is a source of nutrition for the human body. Diabetic patients, obese people and children can also eat it without worry.



When crystalline fructose absorbs 6-12% water, it does not release or absorb water, which can inhibit food dehydration and starch aging, keep products soft and prolong shelf life;. Because crystalline fructose contains aldehyde groups, it can have a merad reaction with amino-containing compounds to color baked goods. Crystalline fructose has strong freezing point reduction ability, thus it is suitable for frozen food and can enhance the taste.



Unlike sucrose, crystalline fructose does not decompose under acidic conditions, so the sweetness and flavor of the finished product are less likely to go off during extended storage. the peak of flavor release of crystalline fructose occurs before glucose and sucrose and does not obscure the aroma release of fruit flavors, so it can better reflect the fruit-like flavors. Crystalline fructose, when used in synergy with other sugars or sweeteners, can enhance the perception of sweetness and serve to increase the sweetness of foods and beverages while maintaining the fluffiness of baked goods and the low viscosity of beverages.

Sodium hyaluronate is produced by fermentation of Streptococcus Mauritius veterinary subspecies with glucose, yeast powder and peptone as the medium, and is the sodium salt of a glycosaminoglycan composed of D-glucuronide and N-acetyl-D-glucosaminoglycan disaccharide units, a straight-chain macromolecular polysaccharide.



New food ingredients of sodium hyaluronate

Sodium hyaluronate and products with it as a major component are currently permitted to be added to foods or dietary supplements in Japan, Korea, the United States, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil.

Due to its unique molecular structure, hyaluronic acid has strong water retention, lubricity, viscoelasticity and film-forming properties. Hyaluronic acid also has strong biological applications, such as anti-inflammatory, wound repair, antioxidant, and cardiovascular production promotion. These properties have led to a wide range of applications in various fields such as cosmetics, ophthalmology and orthopedics.

Sodium hyaluronate can be used in health food, milk and dairy products, beverages, alcohol, cocoa products, chocolate and chocolate products (including cocoa butter chocolate and products) and confectionery, frozen beverages

Additives used to maintain or change the pH of food are called acidity regulators (also known as sour agents). In addition to imparting acidity to foods, acidity regulators also have the functions of adjusting food pH, acting as antioxidants, preventing food rancidity or browning, inhibiting the growth of microorganisms, and preventing food spoilage.

Acids can be divided into two categories according to their composition: organic acids and inorganic acids. Organic acids are mainly used as sour agents. The organic acids contained in natural foods mainly include citric acid, tartaric acid, malic acid, etc.; the acids produced by food fermentation include acetic acid and lactic acid. The most commonly used inorganic acid is phosphoric acid; the synthetic ones are fumaric acid and gluconic acid.



Common food acidity regulators



Common acidity regulators

Citric Acid

According to its water content, it is divided into monohydrate citric acid and anhydrous citric acid. It is the most used organic acid in sour agents, especially suitable for citrus beverages. Citric acid also has a chelating effect, which can remove certain harmful metals. Citric acid can prevent oxidation caused by enzyme catalysis and metal catalysis, thereby preventing quick-frozen fruits from discoloring and flavoring.



Malic Acid

Malic acid is widely present in fruits and vegetables. More than 90% of the acid in apples is malic acid. It can be used alone or together with other organic acids. It is widely used in refreshing drinks and fruit juice drinks and is also suitable for lactic acid bacteria drinks. It has a more pungent astringent taste than citric acid and has the effect of masking the aftertaste of beverages using artificial sweeteners.



Tartaric Acid

Tartaric acid is widely present in fruits, especially grapes, in free or salt form. Tartrate (tartar) can be precipitated when grape juice is stored in a cool and dark place. Tartaric acid has four configurations: d-type, I-type, dI-type, and meso-type. The naturally occurring tartaric acid is type d, and the synthetic one is type dI. Tartaric acid generally refers to d-type tartaric acid.



Lactic Acid

There are two types of lactic acid: a-type and β-type. The common method is a-type lactic acid. Colorless to light yellow transparent viscous liquid, odorless or slightly unpleasant odor. Lactic acid generally has a concentration of 85% to 95%. It is a mixture of lactic acid and anhydrous lactic acid. It can be freely mixed with water, alcohol, and ketones, and has strong hygroscopicity. Lactic acid has a strong sour taste, the acidity is about 1.2 times that of citric acid, it has a slightly astringent taste and a soft astringent taste, which is different from the sour taste of citric acid and malic acid in fruits.

PepsiCo announced on July 1 that it plans to reduce the amount of sugar in the sodas and iced teas it sells in EU countries by a quarter by 2025. Silviu Popovici, CEO of PepsiCo Europe, said, "Almost a third of the beverages we sell in Europe today are sugar-free, and we believe this trend will continue."



Pepsi plans to sharply reduce the amount of sugar in beverages



From the current market, Coca-Colas sugar-free/low-sugar accounts for 28.2% of its operating revenue, with revenue of 60.7 billion yuan. Nongfushanquan is estimated at around 13%, while newcomer brand Yuanqi Forest, which focuses on sugar-free beverages, has seen its sales grow exponentially and is expected to have a comparable market position to Nongfushanquan in the sugar-free beverage segment. The leading companies also began to target the sugar-free track have launched new products.

In recent years, the global beverage category cane sugar usage is gradually declining, but cane sugar + glucose syrup still occupies 90% of the global sweetening seasoning market share, synthetic sweeteners / other sweeteners accounted for only 9% / 1%, the future of sweeteners instead of cane sugar space is very large. More and more countries and regions around the world are introducing "sugar tax" policies, and Chinas Health Care Commission also advocates "sugar reduction" and encourages the use of sugar substitutes.

Combining safety, flavor, and taste, technical barriers, industrial policy, and sweet price ratio, aspartame will be slowly eliminated due to safety, acesulfame, sucralose, erythritol, and steviol glycosides market space is expected, among which, sucralose and erythritol flavor and safety are better than acesulfame and steviol glycosides, more room for development.