If you look at the ingredient panel on soft drinks, candies or even your own batch of homemade jam, you'll likely see citric acid listed. While citric acid is commonly found as a monohydrate or anhydrous form, there are differences between the two that can affect your food preparation and storage. Some cooks rely on citric acid to balance the flavor of lemonade while others need it to help jam set or preserve canned fruits. Here's what you need to know to decide which one works best for your application. This information will ensure you choose the right type of citric acid for your kitchen or budding food business without wasting time and resources on failed batches. Citric acid monohydrate vs. anhydrous basically has to do with how much water is in the compound.

pH Adjustment in Beverages: Why Citric Acid Beats Phosphoric Acid for Clean Labels

PH control is used for beverages to balance flavor, enhance shelf life, and PH down the beverage so it is potable. Even a minor difference in acid level can change how a beverage will taste. For example, let's use a lemon-lime soda. Too little acid and it may taste flat. Too much and it becomes harsh to drink with a very bitter flavor. Lemonade, orange soda, and flavored water are some drinks that use acid citric often. It gives off the quintessential flavor profile of "tartness" that matches up beautifully with fruit-based flavors. Citric acid is also easy to mix into beverages, and most people have heard of it since it occurs naturally in lemon/lime/etc. Where phosphoric acid is used the most in beverages is with colas. Phosphoric acid gives off a cleaner, sweeter bite that compliments the dark caramel notes. Citric acid will always be the first replacement used when brands try to push clean labels. More and more people are looking at back of package ingredients lists and wanting to see shorter and more recognizable ingredients. To most consumers, citric acid looks more familiar and less processed. This helps their beverages appear cleaner and more natural. Citric acid is also easier to use in a small scale beverage operation, think homemade lemonade stand or your local coffee shop testing out new flavors. You can easily dissolve citric acid into some water and add it to your recipe drop-by-drop. If you feel like your batch came out too flat, a tiny pinch of citric acid can brighten up the flavor without changing the entire drink. Phosphoric acid can get trickier as you don't want it to be the dominant flavor. Here's a little tip for anyone that formulates beverages. Start with citric acid if your drink is fruit-forward and only make adjustments by the slightest amount until you feel like the flavor is right. Write down any adjustments in a tiny notebook so you can reproduce when you nail the formula. This way you can experiment less and have repeatability when PH balancing.

Industrial Cleaning Applications: Chelating Power in Descaling Formulations

The build up of scale is an issue in cleaning work, particularly when water is heated or reused repeatedly. You find it in the form of a white or chalky coating within kettles, coffee machines, pipes or even industrial tanks. To a large extent, this is accumulated by calcium and magnesium in hard water. It also reduces the speed of heat transfer and eventually can plug equipment. There is citric acid water treatment that rescues it, due to its chelating capacity. Chelating is a technical term and the concept is not so hard. It implies that the acid will be able to attach to mineral ions such as calcium and retain them so that they can be washed off using water. Citric acid does not only work by scraping or scrubbing the surface but rather at a chemical level to loosen the scale. This simplifies the cleaning process and lessens the use of harsh chemicals. When descaling an electric kettle, people may notice this in a home environment. The inside white crust can be loosened in a single soak with a mix of warm water and citric acid. The same concept is scaled up in cafes. The mineral deposits are accumulated quickly by coffee machines since they heat water numerous times per day. Periodic descaling maintains the flow constant and contributes to the increased lifespan of the machine. Citric acid is also used in cleaning-in-place systems in larger food plants. Juice, dairy or sauce pipes and tanks should remain clean without ruining the metal. Citric acid is efficient since it is well soluble in the stainless steel and is strong enough to bind the minerals yet gentle enough when used in regulated quantities. The ease with which it is handled is another practical consideration. It is soluble in water thus allowing workers to prepare cleaning solutions without having to spend lots of time mixing. It also cleans easily, something that is critical in equipment that comes in contact with food where residue cannot be left behind. A basic routine is useful to anyone who has a scale problem. It is better to clean with citric acid regularly than cleaning when it has built up. When scale is thickened, then it requires more time and effort to pull off so being consistent saves the day in the future.

Export Documentation: Meeting FCC/USP Grade Standards for Global Shipments

Shipping citric acid internationally requires attention beyond just quality and performance. There are documents to be read and understood as well as specifications of grade to be met in order for your goods to pass through customs without running afoul of any safety standards. Two of the most well known grades, which you may see printed on bulk bins or other shipping containers are FCC grade and USP grade. Both of these specifications let your customers know that the citric acid they are purchasing has been tested to be safe for use in foods, drinks, pharmaceuticals, or any other uses that require high purity ingredients. FCC grade is short for Food Chemicals Codex specification. This designation tells a buyer that there are set maximum levels of heavy metals and other impurities allowed for that batch of food additive. If the shipping container your exporting tells you the contents are FCC grade, then it should pass any food safety regulations for use in most countries. USP grade means that the citric acid has been purified to meet United States Pharmacopeia standards. This grade of purity is often higher than FCC and is used as a benchmark for medicines and other applications that require very high purity ingredients. Shipping USP grade citric acid means that there should be a higher expectation of your process control all the way through manufacturing and testing. Regardless of what grade of citric acid you are shipping, most importers will ask to see additional documents alongside any grading labels. These can include a certificate of analysis, MSDS, and laboratory test reports from third party labs. A common example is a European beverage company may require you to provide proof of FCC certification before they will allow your citric acid shipments to enter their facility from Asia. Apothecaries and pharmaceutical suppliers may only accept shipments after seeing documentation that the goods are USP compliant. Small mistakes on a document can leave shipping containers sitting in port for days while everything is verified. Make sure you triple check that the batch number on the test report matches the labeling before it ships. Keep electronic copies of your test reports and specifications should they become lost or customs demand to see them immediately.