Food Additive Potassium Sorbate (CAS: 24634-61-5)

Product Description

Potassium sorbate is the potassium salt of sorbic acid. Its primary use is as a food preservative (E number 202). Potassium sorbate is effective in a variety of applications including food, wine, and personal care.

Potassium sorbate is used to inhibit molds and yeasts in many foods, such as cheese, wine, yogurt, dried meats, apple cider and baked goods. It can also be found in the ingredients list of many dried fruit products. In addition, herbal dietary supplement products generally contain potassium sorbate, which acts to prevent mold and microbes and to increase shelf life, and is used in quantities at which there are no known adverse health effects. [citation needed] Labeling of this preservative reads as "potassium sorbate" on the ingredient statement. Also, it is used in many personal care products to inhibit the development of microorganisms for shelf stability. Some manufacturers are using this preservative as a replacement for parabens.

Also known affectionately as "wine stabilizer", potassium sorbate produces sorbic acid when added to wine. It serves two purposes. When active fermentation has ceased and the wine is racked for the final time after clearing, potassium sorbate will render any surviving yeast incapable of multiplying. Yeast living at that moment can continue fermenting any residual sugar into CO2 and alcohol, but when they die no new yeast will be present to cause future fermentation. When a wine is sweetened before bottling, potassium sorbate is used to prevent refermentation when used in conjunction with potassium metabisulfite. It is primarily used with sweet wines, sparkling wines, and some hard ciders but may be added to table wines which exhibit difficulty in maintaining clarity after fining.

Some molds (notably some Trichoderma and Penicillium strains) and yeasts are able to detoxify sorbates by decarboxylation, producing 1, 3-pentadiene. The pentadiene manifests as a typical odor of kerosene or petroleum.                                                  
                                        

Specification:

Product name:	Potassium Sorbate
Product Category:	Food Additives
Cas No.:	590-00-1,24634-61-5
EINECS NO:	246-376-1
Formula:	C6H7KO2
Structure Formula:
M.W.:	150.22
Characters	White to off-white crystalline powder or granule, odorless or slight characteristic odor. It is easy to absorb moisture and oxidized to be colored. Melting point: 270¡æ(decomposition), Solubility(20¡æ,g/100mL): water 67.6; propanediol 5.8; ethanol 0.3; soluble in water.
Main Uses:	Preservative, stabilizers and antioxidants Potassium sorbate is a new, safe, nontoxic and effective food preservative. It is potassium-salt of unsaturated fatty acid. It can participate in normal metabolism and finally be oxidized to water and carbon dioxide, does not accumulate in the human body and has high safety. Its toxicity is only half of salt, 1/ 40 of sodium benzoate and has been recognized internationally as the best food additives. Potassium sorbate has been approved of using in worldwide and successfully used in the food industry in many ways. It has obvious inhibition of molds, yeasts and aerobic bacteria, whose effect on inhibit the growth of bacteria is stronger than the effect on destroy bacteria. It combines with sulfhydryl group in microbial enzyme system to destroy the role of enzymes, so that achieve the purposes of bacteriostasis and antisepsis. It also can prevent from the growth and breeding of botox, staphylococcus and salmonella and other harmful microorganisms. Under acidic conditions (pH value less than 5-6), the effect of bacteriostasis is better, and the food composition has no any impact of preservative effect, so it effectively extends the storage time of food and keep the original flavor of food. However, there is no effect on anaerobic bacteria Bacillus and Lactobacillus acidophilus and other beneficial micro-organisms.