Chemistry of Soaps and Detergents
Chemicals in Food
Chemicals are added to food for (i) their preservation, (ii) enhancing their appeal, and (iii) adding nutritive value in them. Main categories of food additives are as follows:
(i) Food colours
(ii) Flavours and sweeteners
(iii) Fat emulsifiers and stabilising agents
(iv) Flour improvers – antistaling agents and bleaches
(v) Antioxidants
(vi) Preservatives
(vii) Nutritional supplements such as minerals, vitamins and amino acids.
Except for chemicals of category (vii), none of the above additives have nutritive value. These are added either to increase the shelf life of stored food or for cosmetic purposes. In this Section we will discuss only sweeteners and food preservatives.
Artificial Sweetening Agents
Natural sweeteners, e.g., sucrose add to calorie intake and therefore many people prefer to use artificial sweeteners. Ortho-sulphobenzimide, also called saccharin, is the first popular artificial sweetening agent. It has been used as a sweetening agent ever since it was discovered in 1879. It is about 550 times as sweet as cane sugar. It is excreted from the body in urine unchanged. It appears to be entirely inert and harmless when taken. Its use is of great value to diabetic persons and people who need to control intake of calories. Some other commonly marketed artificial sweeteners are given in Table 16.1.
Aspartame 100
Saccharin 550
Sucrolose 600
Alitame 2000
Table Table 16.1: Artificial Sweeteners
Aspartame is the most successful and widely used artificial sweetener. It is roughly 100 times as sweet as cane sugar. It is methyl ester of dipeptide formed from aspartic acid and phenylalanine. Use of aspartame is limited to cold foods and soft drinks because it is unstable at cooking temperature.
Alitame is high potency sweetener, although it is more stable than aspartame, the control of sweetness of food is difficult while using it. Sucrolose is trichloro derivative of sucrose. Its appearance and taste are like
Chemicals are added to food for (i) their preservation, (ii) enhancing their appeal, and (iii) adding nutritive value in them. Main categories of food additives are as follows:
(i) Food colours
(ii) Flavours and sweeteners
(iii) Fat emulsifiers and stabilising agents
(iv) Flour improvers – antistaling agents and bleaches
(v) Antioxidants
(vi) Preservatives
(vii) Nutritional supplements such as minerals, vitamins and amino acids.
Except for chemicals of category (vii), none of the above additives have nutritive value. These are added either to increase the shelf life of stored food or for cosmetic purposes. In this Section we will discuss only sweeteners and food preservatives.
Artificial Sweetening Agents
Natural sweeteners, e.g., sucrose add to calorie intake and therefore many people prefer to use artificial sweeteners. Ortho-sulphobenzimide, also called saccharin, is the first popular artificial sweetening agent. It has been used as a sweetening agent ever since it was discovered in 1879. It is about 550 times as sweet as cane sugar. It is excreted from the body in urine unchanged. It appears to be entirely inert and harmless when taken. Its use is of great value to diabetic persons and people who need to control intake of calories. Some other commonly marketed artificial sweeteners are given in Table 16.1.
Aspartame 100
Saccharin 550
Sucrolose 600
Alitame 2000
Table Table 16.1: Artificial Sweeteners
Aspartame is the most successful and widely used artificial sweetener. It is roughly 100 times as sweet as cane sugar. It is methyl ester of dipeptide formed from aspartic acid and phenylalanine. Use of aspartame is limited to cold foods and soft drinks because it is unstable at cooking temperature.
Alitame is high potency sweetener, although it is more stable than aspartame, the control of sweetness of food is difficult while using it. Sucrolose is trichloro derivative of sucrose. Its appearance and taste are like