CARAMEL

Химические свойства

Caramel color is one of the oldest and most widely used food-color additives. Caramel has an odor of burnt sugar and a pleasant, bitter taste. However, at the low levels used in food, the taste is not perceptible. Internationally, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (JECFA) has divided caramel color into four classes, depending on the reactants used in its manufacturing. For further details, see Burdock (1997).

Использование

caramel is used as a coloring agent. It provides products with a slight touch of brown. Some sources also state that it acts as a soothing agent in skin care preparations. Caramel is a concentrated solution obtained from heating sugar or glucose solutions.

Подготовка

Made by heating sugar or glucose, adding small amounts of alkali, alkaline carbonate or a trace of mineral acid during the heating.

Определение

A sugar-based food colorant made from liquid corn syrup by heating in the presence of catalysts to approximately 250F (121C) for several hours, cooling to 200F (93C), and filtering. The brown color results from either Maillard reactions, true caramelization, or oxidative reactions. Caramels are colloidal in nature, the particles being held in solution by either positive or negative electric charges.

Профиль безопасности

Mutation data reported. When heated to decomposition it emits acrid smoke and irritating fumes.