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D. R. SORTWELL, Bartek Ingredients Inc., 421 Seaman St., Stoney Creek, ON L8E 3J4, Canada Buffer systems are used in food and beverage products to control pH. For example, some confectionery products include buffer salts to reduce the rate of sucrose inversion. Some beverages include buffer salts to improve aspartame stability or to minimize variation in the color shade of natural pigments. There are numerous acidulants and buffer salts available for these applications but there is no rapid method of comparing these ingredients as their effectiveness in stabilizing pH. Buffer capacity is a measurement of the resistance to change in pH. The objective was to verify that buffer capacity could be reliably predicted for single and mixed buffer systems, using examples typical of food and beverage products. Various buffer systems of the type used in food and beverage products were prepared. These included mixed buffers comprised of a weak acid and the salt of a different weak acid. Their buffer capacity was measured experimentally by determining the equivalents of HCl required to lower pH by 1.0. These results were compared to buffer capacity computed using mathematical equations. The results showed that buffer capacity for single and mixed buffer systems could be accurately predicted by using mathematical equations and that these predictions would be useful in food and beverage product development. The time required for food and beverage prototype development can be reduced by using equations to accurately predict buffer capacity for single and mixed buffer systems. The impact of changes in formulation on buffer capacity can be rapidly determined.
Handout (.ppt format, 1116.0 kb)
Session 113, Product Development: General
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