Why Add Preservatives to Limu Plus?
The reason we use a very limited and minuscule amounts of preservatives (Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate) in Limu Plus is because by proper manufacturing legal guidelines we either 1) have to use preservatives or 2) we have to pasteurize the product. Pasteurizing Limu Plus would damage and destroy many of the naturally occurring healthy properties and potent nutrients.
Manufacturing Process. All incoming raw ingredients quarantined then analyzed for purity and potency before being accepted into stock, weighed, mixed with purified water in stainless steel vat. Then sampled for contamination testing, retained in stainless steel holding vat, after 48 hours results of contamination testing. If OK bottled on fully automated lines and dosed with nitrogen to prevent oxidation and preserve freshness then shipped.
The exact amounts added are:
Potassium Sorbate: 500 PPM
Sodium Benzoate: 500 PPM
Potassium Sorbate
It is hard to imagine a naturally occurring nutrient that has been more maligned or more mischaracterized than potassium sorbate — the potassium salt of sorbic acid (CH3-CH=CH-CH=CH-COOH).
This is a big issue for us, because a number of health food stores, to this very day, exclude certain products from their shelves because they claim that potassium sorbate is an unhealthful preservative — this, despite the fact that they have no valid scientific basis for their claim. Truth is, the facts weigh heavily against their bias.
The issue is one of considerable hypocrisy because virtually all health food stores carry Aloe Vera Juice and Gels, along with other beverages that use sorbic acid and/or its salts (which includes potassium sorbate). I very much doubt anyone has ever been to a store, be it a health food store or supermarket, where there has not been a plentitude of products that contain potassium sorbate. I know of several which contain sorbic acid and do not list it on the label. You see this frequently in the health foods industry.
So why add potassium sorbate? We do so for two reasons.
Like many conscientious food producers in the natural foods market, we wish to use natural ingredients to not only provide the freshest, best-tasting, most convenient products in the market, but also insure their safety. There is no greater threat to the modern system of food distribution than undesired, even pathogenic, micro-organisms. Many people falsely think that if a product is totally natural, or even organic, it doesn’t need protection. This fantasyland thinking has no basis whatsoever in known food science, and, in fact, just the opposite is true.
We add potassium sorbate for two reasons:
(1) To naturally inhibit microbes, particularly mold, and;
(2) To increase the potassium level in our products.
We could have used other known polyunsaturated fats that have this inhibiting quality, but we chose potassium sorbate for reasons we make clear in the following section.
Scientific Facts: What is Potassium Sorbate?
Potassium sorbate is a potassium salt version of sorbic acid, a polyunsaturated fat used to inhibit mold growth. Sorbic acid was first isolated from the oil of the unripened rowan berry (sorbapple or mountain ash berry) in 1959 by A.W. Hoffmann. Sorbic acid obtained its name from the scientific name for mountain ash (i.e. Sorbus aucuparia, Linne), the parent of the rowanberry. The chemical structure of sorbic acid was determined some time between 1870 and 1890 (see above), and then chemically synthesized by O. Doebner in 1900.
The value of sorbic acid, or its salts, was not immediately recognized. (It would only be much later that these compounds would be appreciated for their ability to interfere with ATP metabolism in microbes, while posing no health risk when consumed by mammals.)
In 1939 and 1940, E. Mueller (Germany) and C.M. Gooding (U.S.) discovered sorbic acid’s antimicrobial properties. Subsequently, in 1945, C.M. Gooding and Best Foods, Inc. were awarded the first patent for the use of sorbic acid as a fungistatic agent in foods. Since the 1950’s, sorbic acid has been repeatedly tested for safety and efficacy, and today stands as one of the most thoroughly tested food additives in history. In fact, few substances have had the kind of extensive, rigorous, long-term testing that sorbic acid and its salts have had. It has been found to be non-toxic even when taken in large quantities, and breaks down in the body into water and carbon dioxide in the Krebs Cycle.
The all-time critic of food additives, Dr. Michael Jacobsen (founder of Center For Science In The Public Interest in Washington, D.C.), has given sorbic acid and its salts his highest rating, SAFE. He has indicated that, “the body metabolizes potassium sorbate like any other polyunsaturated fat.” Many of the most common food additives which health-conscious Americans take for granted have not received this rating: hydrolyzed vegetable proteins, common food colorings (coal tar dyes), natural liquid smoke flavorings (distillates), BHA, BHT, TBHQ, nitrates, etc.
We stand by the weight of scientific evidence on sorbic acid and its salts. It provides the very best method of inhibiting mold in intermediate moisture, soy protein products.
Sodium Benzoate
It is also known as “benzoate of soda,” it is the sodium salt of “benzoic acid,” an FDA-approved, polyunsaturated fat that has been used by food manufacturers for over 80 years to inhibit microbial growth. Sodium benzoate can prevent growth of almost all microorganisms (yeast, bacteria, and fungi). It operates best in an acidic environment, and it works synergistically with other food-grade preservatives — most notably potassium sorbate. Sodium benzoate is freely found in nature, and in fact, even organically grown cranberries or prunes can contain levels of benzoic acid that exceed the legal limit imposed by the FDA on U.S. food manufacturers (0.1% by weight), although the level normally found in berries will be in the range of 0.05 to 0.1%.
Sodium benzoic, as well as benzoic acid are COMPLETELY SAFE, and like the preservative, Potassium Sorbate (sorbic acid), have been labeled SAFE by the leading food additive authority, Dr. Michael Jacobsen, founder and president of Center for Science in the Public Interest. In 1954 Dr. W.H. Stein reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society that benzoate is a natural metabolite of the human body. Because commercial sodium benzoate is today made in laboratories, it has sometimes been banned by certain entities in the health food industry, there is no scientific basis for any claim that benzoate is unhealthful. It is a substance natural to the body’s own metabolism, and in this respect is no difference in its functioning as a preservative than vinegar (acetic acid).
Sodium benzoate has been the subject of extensive experimentation: it has been tested in longitudinal and short-term feeding experiments in man, dogs, and rats. In one experiment in Germany, four generations of rats were continuously exposed to 0.05 or 1 percent sodium benzoate in their diet. Scientists did not observe any harmful effects on growth, life span, or internal organs. No tumors were detected. All evidence points to sodium benzoate as a safe preservative, except for rare instances of allergic reaction.
Operating Conditions: Sodium benzoate, like potassium sorbate, is effective only under acidic conditions. Within the food industry, its use is therefore restricted to such foods as preserves, jams, salad dressing, fruit juices, pickles, and carbonated drinks; however, it will functionally work well in the proper acidic conditions, with good dispersion.
Additional Resources:
CSPI’s Guide to Food Additives (search Sodium Benzoate and /or Potassium Sorbate) http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm#Alphabetical
FDA’s Food Additive Database (search Sodium Benzoate and /or Potassium Sorbate) http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/%7Edms/eafus.html
References
References abstracted from CSIN literature: FAO (31)-27; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 76, 2848 (1954); Tox. Appl. Pharmacol. 19, 373 (1971); Lancet ii, 1055 (1981); 21 CFR 184, 1021, 184.1733.
Why we do not use Ascorbic Acid
There has been some questions regarding the following:
“In combination with ascorbic acid (vitamin C, E300), sodium and potassium benzoate may form benzene, a known carcinogen. Heat, light and shelf life can affect the rate benzene is formed. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently (as of March 2006) performing tests, but the Environmental Working Group is calling for FDA to publicly release all tests and use their authority to force companies to reformulate to avoid the benzene forming combination.” This is why you will not find Ascorbic Acid in Limu Plus.
It is the Ascorbic Acid in combo with the Sodium Benzoate that may form benzene. So, we don’t use the ascorbic acid. We’re hoping other companies follow our lead.
