Food bleach

In today's highly developed industry, various agents have also appeared in industrial production. For example, in the food industry, food bleaching agent is a widely used additive. This additive can destroy the color of food, or prevent food from browning, making the food look better in appearance. There are two different types of food bleaches, reducing bleaches and oxidizing bleaches.

1. Introduction to food bleaching agents

Bleach refers to a type of additive that can destroy or inhibit the factors that form food color, causing it to fade in color or prevent food from browning. Such as the production of dried fruit, bleaching treatment of starch syrup and other products. In addition to improving the color of food, bleaching agents also have multiple functions such as antibacterial, antiseptic, and antioxidant, and are widely used in food processing.

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2. Classification of bleaching agents

There are many types of bleaching agents, but considering the safety of food and its own particularity, there are not many types of bleaching agents that are truly suitable for use in food. According to their mechanism of action, bleaching agents can be divided into reducing bleaching agents and oxidizing bleaching agents. Whether it is a reducing bleach or an oxidizing bleach, in addition to improving the color of food, some bleaching agents also have the function of passivating the activity of biological enzymes and inhibiting the reproduction of microorganisms, thereby controlling enzymatic browning and inhibiting bacteria.

1. Reducing bleach

Reducing bleaching agents are widely used in fruit and vegetable processing, mainly through the reducing effect of the sulfur dioxide component in them, which decomposes or fades the pigment components in fruits and vegetables. Its effect is relatively mild, but the pigments bleached by it may recolor once they are oxidized again. All the reducing bleaches listed in GB2760-2011 are mainly sulfite preparations, such as sodium sulfite, sodium hyposulfite (hydrosulfite), sodium or potassium pyrosulfite, sodium bisulfite and sulfur.

2. Oxidative bleach

Oxidative bleach destroys coloring substances or chromophores through its own oxidation, thereby achieving the purpose of bleaching. Oxidative bleaching agents are rarely used in practice, except for a few varieties such as azodicarbonamide which is used as flour treating agents.