Citric Acid – fruits, vegetables & fungus

Commonly used as a food additive for flavouring and as a preservative, citric acid is also used in cosmetics, for medical purposes, as an antioxidant and in cleaning products.

First extracted by a Swedish researcher in 1784, the odourless and colourless compound was derived from lemon juice until the early 1900s when American food chemist James Currie discovered that it could also be made from Aspergillus Niger, which creates citric acid when it feeds on sugar.

Although citric acid is found in high concentrations in many citrus fruits like lemons, it is not economical to extract the acid from fruit for industrial use. Plus, the demand for Citric Acid far outweighs the supply of citrus fruit available. Thus, once it was possible to produce a seemingly endless supply of citric acid, companies like Pfizer and Citrique Belge began manufacturing it on an industrial scale.

Because of its acidic, sour-tasting nature, Citric Acid is predominantly used as a flavouring and preserving agent — especially in soft drinks and candies. The acidic pH of citric acid makes it useful as a food preservative and preserves the colour of the food since it significantly slows the oxidation. Since many bacteria are unable to grow in an acidic environment, Citric Acid is often added to jams, jellies, candy, canned foods, and even meat products as a form of preservation.

However, it is also used in many other industries which include:

• Cosmetics and personal care products – In skin care formulations, Citric Acid has protective antioxidant and corrective antiaging effects helping to reverse visible signs of photodamage.

• Medical uses – The combination of Citric Acid and Sodium Citrate is used to prevent gout or kidney stones, or metabolic acidosis in people with kidney problems.

• Antioxidant – Citric Acid plays an important role in intermediary metabolism, being a component of the tricarboxylic acid cycle or Krebs cycle.

• Cleaning products – Citric Acid kills bacteria, mould, and mildew, It’s also effective at removing soap scum, hard water stains, calcium deposits, lime, and rust.

Redox supplies Citric Acid Anhydrous and Monohydrate in a variety of mesh sizes and packaging to suit whatever scale our customers require.

Stock availability –

To find out more about Citric Acid, contact one of our industry specialists today.