10 replies to this topic

[Charles Chew]

Recently, many voluntary product recalls have been taking place base on suspected or known cases of beverages that contain "benzene" that is above 10 ppb.

Benzene is a result of benzoate acid reacting with ascobic acid. Therefore, products should cover a whole lot of other items that have both of these two ingredients i.e. jams, sweets, etc

Wonder how massive this recall would become if indeed a proper study is made.

[Franco]

Benzene is a result of benzoate acid reacting with ascobic acid. Therefore, products should cover a whole lot of other items that have both of these two ingredients i.e. jams, sweets, etc

I would expect reaction rate in liquids to be much higher than in gels or solids. Just my two pennies, I haven't got any data regarding my hypothesis (validation ? Here we are again ).

[Franco]

Letter from FDA

[Charles.C]

The UK seem to be less concerned than US (10ppb cf, 5ppb) but are also seemingly more proactive. Wonder what the detection level is?
http://www.food.gov....r/benzeneupdate

http://www.flexnews...._drinks_uk.html

I don't personally find the analogy to current levels in the air too comforting either, cough cough.
Rgds / Charles.C

Edited by Charles.C, 13 April 2006 - 07:37 AM.

[Charles Chew]

It is correct to benchmark benzene contamination at

[Simon]

Excuse my ignorance but is Benzene the stuff that's found in fizzy drinks?

[Charles Chew]

Simon,

Try this web site. Problem is too much of "benzene" might just make you to become "The Inflammable Torch"

http://www.epa.gov/s...oc/benzene.html

Edited by charleschew, 17 April 2006 - 05:25 PM.

[Simon]

What is Benzene and how is it used?

Benzene is a clear, colorless aromatic liquid. It is highly flammable. The greatest use of benzene is as a building block for making plastics, rubber, resins and synthetic fabrics like nylon and polyester. Other uses include: as a solvent in printing, paints, dry cleaning, etc.So why is it added to drinks, or is it just naturally occurring? I don't get it.

Simon

[yorkshire]

So why is it added to drinks, or is it just naturally occurring? I don't get it.

I believe that the benzene is caused by a reaction between the preservative sodium benzoate (E211) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). (I have now seen that Charles has said this already).


Benzoates are used as preservatives against yeasts and moulds and are readily soluble in water. The most common permitted uses are:

Non alcoholic flavoured drinks
Alcohol free beer
Spirits less than 15% alcohol
Low sugar jams, jellies, etc.
Olives


So it looks that jams and juices would be most affected by this problem.

Edited by yorkshire, 18 April 2006 - 11:37 AM.

[Franco]

Benzene news

[Franco]

BfR has issued a report on benzene in food. No conclusions can be drawn from current set of data.

The fact that benzene is produced from the reaction of benzoic acid and ascorbic acid in foods is still under investigation

Alternative hypothesis are benzene coming from the process or from analytical lab

BfR report on benzene in food