Tag: Food additives
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magical poop paper and the tree it rode in on
Welcome to the fascinating world of fecal forensics! Let’s dive into the delightfully disgusting details of the guaiac fecal occult blood test (gFOBT), a colorful adventure in colon cancer screening! Imagine a special paper that can detect invisible blood in your stool. That’s the gFOBT! Magic Resin It uses guaiac, a compound extracted from Guaiacum…
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Cryptanaerobacter phenolicus transforms phenol into benzoate via 4-hydroxybenzoate
Benzoic acid occurs naturally in many plants and serves as an intermediate in the biosynthesis of many secondary metabolites. Salts of benzoic acid are used as food preservatives. Benzoic acid is an important precursor for the industrial synthesis of many other organic substances. The salts and esters of benzoic acid are known as benzoates. Benzoic acid occurs naturally as do its esters in many plant…
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Xylitol: sweetener and laxative from hell
Xylitol, a natural sugar alcohol, has gained popularity as a low-calorie sweetener and the peddlers have attributed numerous health benefits to their product. This post is going to focus on one that doesn’t get nearly enough attention except in the countries where it was banned in things like soft drinks and elsehwere requires a diarrhea…
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Xylitol production by fermentation from discarded biomass is one of the most valuable renewable chemicals
Xylitol occurs naturally in small amounts in plums, strawberries, cauliflower, and pumpkin; humans and many other animals make trace amounts during metabolism of carbohydrates. Unlike most sugar alcohols, xylitol is achiral. Most other isomers of pentane-1,2,3,4,5-pentol are chiral, but xylitol has a plane of symmetry. Industrial production starts with lignocellulosic biomass from which xylan is extracted; raw biomass materials include hardwoods, softwoods, and agricultural waste from processing…
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History of xylitol
Emil Fischer, a German chemistry professor, and his assistant Rudolf Stahel isolated a new compound from beech wood chips in September 1890 and named it Xylit, the German word for xylitol. The following year, the French chemist M.G. Bertrand isolated xylitol syrup by processing wheat and oat straw. Sugar rationing during World War II led to an interest in sugar substitutes.…
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Xylitol
Xylitol is a chemical compound with the formula C5H12O5, or HO(CH2)(CHOH)3(CH2)OH; specifically, one particular stereoisomer with that structural formula. It is a colorless or white crystalline solid that is freely soluble in water. It can be classified as a polyalcohol and a sugar alcohol, specifically an alditol. The name derives from Ancient Greek: ξύλον, xyl[on] ‘wood’, with the suffix -itol used to denote sugar alcohols. Xylitol is used as a food additive and sugar substitute. Its European…
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The Food Chemicals Codex (FCC) has been published since 1966
Scope The FCC features more than 1,250 monographs, including food-grade chemicals, processing aids, foods (such as vegetable oils, fructose, whey, and amino acids), flavoring agents, vitamins, and functional food ingredients (such as lycopene, olestra, and short chain fructooligosaccharides). The FCC also contains ingredients, such as sucrose and essential oils, that are not frequently found in other food additive standards resources. The FCC provides essential criteria and analytical methods to authenticate…
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The Codex Alimentarius (International Food Code)
The Codex Alimentarius (Latin for ‘Food Code’) is a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines, and other recommendations published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations relating to food, food production, food labeling, and food safety. History and governance Its name is derived from the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus. Its texts are developed and maintained by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), a…
