QandAs: Food

What is Sodium Benzoate?

Answer:
Sodium benzoate (NaC6H5CO2) is a chemical substance

which can be created by reacting sodium hydroxide with benzoic acid. Sodium benzoate is used as a preservative, mostly in acidic foods like vinegars, soft drinks, salad dressings, as well as some mouth-wash products and cough-syrups, to mention just a few.

Sodium benzoate has bacteriostatic properties, which means it is capable of helping to limit or prevent bacterial growth in certain acidic foods. It is found naturally in some foods, including apples, cinnamon, cloves, cranberries, some plums, and others. Sodium benzoate also has fungistatic properties, which means it helps limit or prevent fungi growth.

Sodium benzoate, in combination with ascorbic acid (vitamin C) can form benzene, a known carcinogen. Sodium benzoate has also been implicated in certain studies as being a catalyst type substance when combined with certain artificial coloring substances like Yellow #5 (tartrazine).

It is thought that such combinations are at least partly responsible, or perhaps exacerbate, some hyperactivity disorders like ADD and ADHD in children; and might also be partly responsible for certain asthma, hives, and aspirin-sensitivity related reactions and symptoms.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) classify sodium benzoate as 'generally recognized as safe' (GRAS).