Food
As an ingredient, it is listed as a permitted food additive in the European Union for use as a sequestrant and firming agent with the E number E509, and considered as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The average intake of calcium chloride as food additives has been estimated to be 160–345 mg/day for individuals.
As a firming agent, calcium chloride is used in canned vegetables, in firming soybean curds into tofu and in producing a caviar substitute from vegetable or fruit juices. It is commonly used as an electrolyte in sports drinks and other beverages, including bottled water. The extremely salty taste of calcium chloride is used to flavor pickles while not increasing the food's sodium content. Calcium chloride's freezing-point depression properties are used to slow the freezing of the caramel in caramel-filled chocolate bars.
In brewing beer, calcium chloride is sometimes used to correct mineral deficiencies in the brewing water. It affects flavor and chemical reactions during the brewing process, and can also affect yeast function during fermentation. Calcium chloride is sometimes added to processed milk to restore the natural balance between calcium and protein in casein for the purposes of making cheeses, such as brie, Pélardon and Stilton. Also, it is frequently added to sliced apples to maintain texture.
Read more about this topic: Calcium Chloride, Uses
Famous quotes containing the word food:
“The repugnance to animal food is not the effect of experience, but is an instinct. It appeared more beautiful to live low and fare hard in many respects; and though I never did so, I went far enough to please my imagination.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Arguably the only goods people need these days are food and nappies.”
—Terence, Sir Conran (b. 1931)
“Men should not labor foolishly like brutes, but the brain and the body should always, or as much as possible, work and rest together, and then the work will be of such a kind that when the body is hungry the brain will be hungry also, and the same food will suffice for both; otherwise the food which repairs the waste energy of the overwrought body will oppress the sedentary brain, and the degenerate scholar will come to esteem all food vulgar, and all getting a living drudgery.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)