CALCIUM PROPIONATE

Food preservation is an important aspect of extending shelf life and ensuring food safety. Calcium propionate is a widely used preservative that inhibits mold growth and extends the shelf life of baked products such as biscuits. Concerns have been raised about the potential health implications of the intake of excessive amounts of calcium propionate including its neurological as well as metabolic effects. This study focuses on the colorimetric assay of calcium propionate in commercially produced biscuits to determine its concentration and evaluate compliance with permissible food additive limits. In this analysis, a colorimetric method was employed, based on the reaction of propionate anions with ferric cations to produce a reddish-brown complex. A UV–visible spectrophotometer was used to measure the absorbance of the resultant solution at a wavelength of 600nm and the concentration was determined from a standard calibration curve.

Calcium propionate is used as a preservative in baked food as a mould inhibitor. In this work, the quantitative analysis of calcium propionate content of five cornflakes was sampled. A simple, cost effective, robust and reproducible quantitative method which is based on complexation reaction between calcium propionate and ferric ammonium sulphate was utilized to quantify the amount of calcium propionate in cornflakes samples. A colour complex formation was formed between ferric cations and propionate anions which give a red-brown soluble complex, the complex was allowed to react for 30 mins and viewed at wavelength of maximum absorbance (600nm) subsequently, Absorbance obtained was plotted against concentration (Standard calibration curve). Five different cornflakes were selected, the method above was used to assay calcium propionate in them. The amount of calcium propionate present in each of the cornflakes sample was extrapolated from the graph to obtain the concentration of
calcium propionate in the cornflake sampled. The results showed that four out of the five cornflakes samples experimented
contained an amount of calcium propionate above the maximum limit of 2000mg/kg recommended by USFDA. The health implication of exceeding the daily recommended amount of calcium propionate consumption in cornflakes by consumers was exposed. Accordingly, recommendations were made on how all these could be ameliorated to improve on the health of cornflakes consumers in Nigeria.