What is the role of sodium citrate in food processing

Sodium citrate can be used as a food additive to make food more tasty and tasty. In addition, sodium citrate itself has certain nutritional properties and can be added to food to increase its nutritional value.

Sodium citrate, also known as citric acid, is chemically known as 2-hydroxypropane-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid. It is divided into citric acid monohydrate and citric acid anhydrous, depending on its water content. Citric acid is used in a wide range of applications, accounting for over 75% of production in the food industry, as an acidulant, antioxidant, pH regulator, in refreshing drinks and jams, and in pastries and other foods. The pharmaceutical industry accounts for about 10% of the production, mainly used as anticoagulants and antacids, as well as cosmetics. The chemical industry accounts for about 15%, used as buffering agents and complexing agents and colour toners.

It has a wide range of applications in the electronics, textile and petroleum industries as well as in ceramics. At room temperature, citric acid is a colourless, semi-permeable, citric acid crystal or white granules or white crystalline powder, odourless, extremely acidic and slightly deliquescent in humid air. It can exist as anhydrous or monohydrate: when citric acid is crystallised from hot water, anhydrous is produced; when crystallised in cold water, monohydrate is produced. When heated to 78 °C, the monohydrate decomposes to give anhydrous. Citric acid can also be dissolved in anhydrous ethanol at 15 °C.

In food additives it is mainly used in carbonated beverages, juice drinks, lactic acid drinks and other refreshing beverages and pickled products, and its demand varies according to the seasonal climate. Citric acid accounts for about 2/3 of the total consumption of acidulants. adding citric acid to canned fruit can maintain or improve the flavour of the fruit in the collection, increase the acidity (lower pH) of some fruits with lower acidity when canned, weaken the heat resistance of microorganisms and inhibit their growth, and prevent bacterial swelling and damage that often occurs in canned fruit with lower acidity. 

The addition of citric acid as an acidulant in confectionery is easy to harmonise with the fruit flavour. In gel foods such as jams and jellies the use of citric acid can effectively reduce the negative charge of pectin, thus allowing the hydrogen bonding between pectin molecules to gel. In the processing of canned vegetables, some vegetables are alkaline reaction, use citric acid as pH adjuster, not only can play a role in seasoning, but also can maintain its quality. Citric acid's chelating effect and pH-adjusting properties make it worthwhile to increase the performance of antioxidants in the processing of quick-frozen foods, inhibit enzyme activity and prolong the shelf life of foods.

In the food industry today, sodium citrate is widely used as an additive in food and beverages, as an acidulant or flavouring agent and as a preservative, preservative, buffering agent and chelating agent in the spice industry, as an antioxidant, plasticiser and detergent in the chemical and cosmetic industries, and as an anticoagulant in the pharmaceutical industry in appropriate quantities.

Lemon juice contains a large amount of citric acid, which combines with calcium ions to form soluble complexes, making the clinical role of sodium citrate to alleviate the role of calcium ions to promote blood clotting, which can prevent and treat hypertension and myocardial infarction, so it can play an anticoagulant role. When fresh blood is taken clinically, some sterilised sodium citrate or sodium oxalate is needed to prevent blood clotting, which is why sodium citrate and sodium oxalate are known as anticoagulants.

Sodium citrate is after all a chemical substance, many people worry that eating it will be harmful to the human body, but in fact it is not. Sodium citrate is an alkaline substance, often eaten to balance the body's pH, the body is in a normal ph range, and alkaline to relieve the body after exercise fatigue is very good. Sodium citrate is edible.