Go Directly to Order Form for Lumen Foods Natural Preservatives below
Read separate articles on: citric acid, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate.
The
preservatives that are made, distributed, or sold by
Lumen Foods all have the following characteristics: they
are natural; they are found freely throughout nature; they
are "safe," and are approved by the Center
For Science in the Public Interest; and they are found
at soybean.com, distributed to the public at or below
benchmark wholesale prices. (Example: food manufacturers
who still purchase their potassium sorbate from companies
like Ashland Chemical, McKesson, or Van Waters & Rogers,
for $4 to $5 per lb. wholesale, do so only because they
haven't heard yet that they can get the same quality product
imported by Lumen Foods for $2.70 / lb. or less.)*|
It's Safe, Easy, Cheap... And It Can Protect Your Family's Life... Most
people think of "preservatives" as unwanted, yet necessary, additives
of the processed food industry - whose products we all enjoy. And
yet the fact is, preservatives are found throughout nature and
many species of plant could not survive with their use. From
a practical point of view, preservatives are everywhere and
commonplace: salt, sugar, honey, and vinegar are all preservatives,
and yet most people never think of them as such.Preservatives
are used commercially to: (1) extend shelf-life, (2) prevent fats
from going rancid, (3) control micro-organisms that spoil foods,
(4) regard enzymatic degradation, (5) keep flavors fresh, (6) keep
mineral ions from interfering with food quality, and (7) in general,
allow foods to stay closer to a kind of "stasis" so that the consumer
enjoys the freshest product possible. These goals do not exist in
isolation: any given preservative serves a spectrum of interrelated
objectives, all of which serve to ensure that consumers have product
which is as close in quality possible to the day it was made. Among
food technologists, the word "preservative" is extremely specific: it
refers to sorbates, benzoates, propionates, and other polyunsaturated
fats which inhibit microbe growth. Compounds that inhibit fat
rancidity are called "antioxidants"; substances that make foods more
acidic (i.e. citric or phosphoric acid) are called "acidulents";
additives that bind minerals are called "sequestering agents"; and
ingredients like salt and sugar that reduce the water that microbes
can make use of (or the "Aw" factor: a ratio of "free water" to "bound
water") are called "solutes."Don't
let the technobabble confuse or deter you. Most people call all
of them "preservatives," and that's okay. It's only important
to know enough about food and their relation to preservatives to
ensure that you're eating safe food. Anyone who is involved
in their own long-term food storage program should at least
know the basics. Nearly
all processes that degrade the quality of food require the presence
of water. (Food techs use a measure of water called "Aw factor"
to determine if a given food has a sufficient level of "free water"
to require further preservative protection. But our purposes,
however, you don't need to.) Because
most companies and consumers who deal in long-term storage do so
with dehydrated foods, little thought is given to preservatives,
and for the following foods, that's fine: dried or dehydrated
beans, grains, fruits and vegetables (provided they are canned or
super pailed to provide an anaerobic, or oxygen free, environment);
low-moisture foods containing substantial quantities of sugar,
salt, or vinegar; MRE's; textured vegetable products, and similar
"dried, extruded" protein products that have a moisture level of less
than 6%; and other food products that are very low in moisture and
are high in solutes. & What's At Risk Any
time you have a higher moisture level, or a significant level
of fat present, preservatives are a good idea. The risk of
not using preservatives when they are called for is quite great:
you're biggest threat is, of course, pathogenic organisms,
including botulism, which are deadly. Among those situations
when you'd want to use preservatives: canned soups (made
at home), stored meat or dairy (not an area we deal in because
we're vegetarian, but here's where a lot of food-borne illness
comes from), even if stored in an anaerobic environment; canned
preserves, jams, sauces (not powdered/dehydrated), edible fats,
and any food storage situation where you don't have less than
6% moisture and an oxygen-free environment. There are, or
course, many borderline situations. But the adage "better safe
than sorry" applies.The
column at right discusses what preservatives we carry, why we
carry them (and use them ourselves), and how you can use them
as part of your arsenal at home to protect your family
when dealing with those foods that are best stored
(and protected) with preservatives. 
Greg
CatonFood
TechnologistFounder,
Lumen FoodsLake
Charles, LouisianaJune
5, 1999 |
The reason that Lumen Foods is (to the best of our knowledge)
the only long-term food storage manufacturer that deals in
food-grade preservatives is that most people in the industry
know so little about it. Lumen Foods, by contrast, has
specialized in intermediate moisture (or "IM mode") food stability
since its inception in 1986. Any food that has 15 to 50% moisture
(which just happens to currently include the majority of foods
eaten by consumers in the Western World) is "IM mode," and
it behooves consumers to know how to prevent stored IM mode foods
from "going bad." Most food-borne illnesses are acquired by
the consumption of IM mode foods, or foods with even higher moisture
levels (i.e. meats, dairy products, soups, etc.) which, in the
absense of good preservation techniques, became the breeding
ground for pathogenic organisms. The column at left will
help you determine if a given food you are storing needs
preservatives. Food Grade Preservatives We
offer three important products to the public to help in their
preservation effort: one acidulent ("citric acid") and two
preservatives ("sodium benzoate" and "potassium sorbate").
The purpose of the citric acid is to create a low pH, an acidic
environment low enough so that the preservatives will be effective.
You can add quite a bit of citric acid, because not only is there
no legal limit on usage, but it is one of the most natural metabolites
of the body. Benzoate acid should be used sparingly: the FDA sets
a 0.1% usage limit, and it's a good idea to hold to this limit since
few natural fruits exceed this level. There is no legal limit on the
use of potassium sorbate, but from a practical point of view, few
applications in the food business require in excess of 3%. A usage
level of 0.8% or lower is common. Making
it easy: Users have the choice of purchasing these
ingredients separately, and following our instructions below,
or purchasing our "Preservation Cocktail," a powdered blend consisting
of 70% potassium sorbate, 27% citric acid, and 3% sodium
benzoate. You simply measure out enough Cocktail to ensure
that you're using 1 part, by weight, to every 30 parts of
food (3.33%). Take that portion of Cocktail, dissolve and mix
thoroughly in boiling water, and mix it in thoroughly with your
food. We can't emphasize "thoroughly" enough.
Since the food you are attempting to preserve,
usually by canning or jarring, will vary in its own water activity
level, pH, initial bacterial count, etc. this is just a rough
measure, and it attempts to "overkill," if anything. Furthermore,
in using the Cocktail, remember that you should not sacrifice
any of the good practices inherent in canning or jarring just
because you now have extra insurance. Because that's all that
any preservative ever gives you: extra insurance.
We realize that a single
web page cannot begin to cover all the
possible applications for food-grade preservatives. And there
are few people outside the rarified world of food microbiologists
at major corporations who know this area as well as we do.
That's why we invite you to
email
us with any specific questions about food preservation.If
you are one of our customers who is already in the food business
and has a background in food technology, you may not need any
input from us. For all others, please call us if you need
our help.
Since
to get to this page, you entered our Virtual Store, you can
order now in the space below. If you plan to order more than
500 pounds, be sure to call to get special, freight-free pricing
at (800) 256-2253, or, again,
email
us. |