Flavor enhancers

作者：admin  点击次数：142  发布时间：2025-05-24

Flavor enhancers, also known as flavor enhancers, refer to substances that supplement or enhance the original flavor of food. They are traditionally called flavor enhancers in my country. Flavor enhancers are mainly divided into: amino acid flavor enhancers, such as glutamic acid, aspartic acid and some of their salts; nucleotide flavor enhancers, such as 5'-inosinic acid, 5'-guanylic acid, 5'-flavor nucleotides and their disodium salts; organic acid flavor enhancers, such as succinate; compound flavor enhancers, such as animal hydrolyzed protein, plant hydrolyzed protein, etc. The flavor enhancers currently allowed for use in my country include sodium glutamate, disodium 5'-guanylate and disodium 5'-inosinate, disodium 5'-flavor nucleotides, disodium succinate and L-alanine.
(-) Sodium glutamate (monosodium glutamate, MSG) Sodium glutamate is monosodium L-glutamate containing one molecule of crystal water, also known as monosodium glutamate. It is currently one of the most important flavor enhancers used in food and is also widely used as the base material for compounding other flavor enhancers. Colorless to white crystals or crystalline powder, with special umami taste, easily soluble in water, and can enhance its flavoring effect when coexisting with salt. Glutamic acid is a low-toxic substance. It can be used in various foods in appropriate amounts according to production needs, and there is no toxicity problem under general dosage conditions. After sodium glutamate enters the human body, it can participate in normal metabolism.
(II) Disodium 5'-guanylate, Disodium 5'-inosinate and Disodium 5'-flavoring nucleotide Disodium 5'-guanylate is directly produced by fermentation with starch and sugar as raw materials; or RNA is extracted from yeast, enzymatically hydrolyzed, separated and refined by nuclease P. White, off-white crystals, or white powder, with special umami taste. It is easily soluble in water, slightly soluble in ethanol, and insoluble in ether.
Nucleotide series flavor enhancers are widely present in various foods. It can be used in various foods in appropriate amounts according to production needs, and no special regulations are required.
(III) Compound flavor enhancers
Complex flavor enhancers refer to a flavor enhancer complex composed of multiple simple flavor enhancers, including natural and compound types. This is because there is a significant synergistic effect between flavor enhancers, which can improve the flavor enhancement effect and reduce the flavor value. Most of them are made by hydrolyzing natural animal, plant, microbial tissue cells or their intracellular biomacromolecules.
In recent years, people have been very interested in many natural flavor extracts, and have developed meat extracts, yeast extracts, hydrolyzed animal proteins and hydrolyzed plant proteins. By combining them with sodium glutamate, sodium 5'-inosinate and sodium 5'-guanylate in different combinations and proportions, compound flavor enhancers suitable for different foods can be made.
V. Bleaching agents
Bleaching agents refer to substances that can destroy and inhibit the color development factors of food, causing it to fade or prevent food from browning. They are divided into two categories: oxidative bleaching agents and reducing bleaching agents. Bleaching has certain toxicity. Excessive addition will remain in food and cause harm to the human body. Its use and dosage should be strictly controlled. The bleaching agents approved for use in GB 2760 Food Additives Hygienic Standards mainly include: sulfur dioxide, potassium pyrosulfite, sodium pyrosulfite, sodium sulfite, sodium bisulfite, sodium hyposulfite and sulfur. These substances can all produce sulfur dioxide, which forms sulfurous acid when it meets water. In addition to its bleaching effect, it also has a preservative effect. In addition, due to the strong reducing property of sulfurous acid, it can consume oxygen in fruit and vegetable tissues, inhibit the activity of enzymes, and prevent the oxidative destruction of vitamin C in fruits and vegetables.
(I) Sulfous acid and its salts
Reducing bleaching agents have a certain reducing ability, mainly sulfurous acid and its salts. Sulfur dioxide dissolves in water to form sulfurous acid, which can reduce and fade coloring substances when oxidized; it can inhibit the activity of oxidases and inhibit enzymatic browning. Sulfites can be metabolized into sulfates in the human body and excreted from urine through the detoxification process. Sulfites are not suitable for animal foods to avoid producing unpleasant odors. Sulfites have a destructive effect on vitamin B, so foods with high vitamin B content such as meat, grains, dairy products and nuts are not suitable. Because it can cause allergic reactions, its use is strictly restricted in the United States and other countries.
(II) Benzoyl peroxide
Benzeneacetyl peroxide is mainly used as a flour processing agent. The pigment in wheat flour is carotenoids, the main component of which is B-carotene, which contains unstable conjugated double bonds and can be oxidized and destroyed by benzoyl peroxide, thereby increasing the whiteness of wheat flour, while also destroying the vitamins and other nutrients in wheat flour. In addition, the benzoic acid produced after the hydrolysis of benzoyl peroxide remains in the flour and enters the human body with the prepared food, increasing the burden on the liver. Short-term excessive use can cause nausea, dizziness, neurasthenia and other poisoning phenomena. Long-term consumption of foods containing a large amount of whitening agents can also cause brain deafness, numbness or tremors in the limbs. In addition, benzoyl peroxide contains trace amounts of impurities such as arsenic and lead, which also have certain toxic side effects on the human body.
6. Enzyme preparations
Enzyme preparations refer to substances with biological catalytic ability extracted from organisms (including animals, plants, and microorganisms).
They are mainly used to accelerate food processing and improve the quality of food products.
According to the composition of ingredients, enzymes can be divided into two categories: one is a simple enzyme, whose basic composition is only amino acids, and its chemical activity depends only on the structure of proteins; the other is a conjugated enzyme, which has non-protein parts in addition to proteins, respectively called enzyme proteins and coenzyme factors, and these two parts are indispensable for the catalytic activity of enzymes. The main function of food enzyme preparations is to catalyze various chemical reactions in the food processing process. However, enzymes are different from general chemical catalysis: ① Enzyme catalytic reactions are generally carried out under mild pH and temperature conditions; ②) The enzyme's action is highly specific, and the enzyme has strict selectivity for the substrate; ③ The enzyme has high catalytic efficiency. Generally speaking, the enzyme-catalyzed reaction rate is 107~1013 times higher than that of the general catalyst. The size of the enzyme activity is expressed by the reaction rate measured under a specific reaction system and conditions. Its international unit is defined as: under certain conditions, the amount of enzyme that converts 1 mmol of substrate into product within 1 minute is 1 international unit (IU). Its determination must be carried out at 25°C, in a reaction system with the optimal substrate concentration, optimal buffer ion strength and pH.
Enzyme preparations derived from animals and plants generally do not have toxicity problems. Many traditional enzymes used in the food industry (such as wine, soy sauce, etc.), such as those from yeast, lactobacillus, lactic acid streptococcus, Aspergillus niger,