Uses Of Hydrochloric Acid In Foods

Hydrochloric acid is a powerful acid composed of one hydrogen and one chloride ion. Hydrochloric acid has many industrial uses, including tin refining, metal cleaning and fertilizer production. Although highly corrosive, hydrochloric acid is also an important reagent in the manufacture of many refined and processed foods.

Gelatin

Gelatin is a protein product consisting primarily of purified collagen. Food-grade gelatin most commonly derives from raw pigskins leftover from the meat industry and is a component of a variety of foodstuffs ranging from wine to candies to dairy products. Manufacturers of edible gelatin wash chopped pork skins in water and then soak the skins in a hydrochloric acid solution to swell the proteins as much as possible. The swelling allows the maximum amount of collagen to release from the raw pork skins, explains the Gelatin Manufacturers Institute of America. The pigskin subsequently undergoes further washing, extraction with hot water and filtration to recover and purify the gelatin.

High-Fructose Corn Syrup

High-fructose corn syrup is a common additive for sweetening and preserving processed foods. The starch molecules of unprocessed corn consist of glucose molecules bonded tightly together. In high-fructose corn syrup, slightly more than half the glucose molecules convert to fructose, increasing the sweetness of the final product. Hydrochloric acid, along with caustic soda, helps maintain the proper pH, or acidity, balance of the product as it goes through the conversion process from straight glucose to a glucose-fructose mix.

Hydrolyzed Plant Protein

Hydrolyzed plant protein, also called hydrolyzed vegetable protein, is a common food additive and flavor enhancer. Manufacturers boil soybeans, corn or wheat in a solution of hydrochloric acid to denature the proteins in these plants and break them down into their constituent amino acids. An alkaline solution then neutralizes the mixture prior to drying into a powder or concentrating into a paste. Monosodium glutamate is an example of a hydrolyzed plant protein flavor enhancer, states the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Dextrins

Dextrins are a type of carbohydrate resulting from partial degradation of starch molecules, such as starch from corn, wheat, potato or tapioca. When mixed with hydrochloric acid under heated conditions, dry, powdered starch undergoes a chemical process called pyrolysis, in which large starch molecules break down into smaller chains of glucose molecules. Manufacturers may manipulate the size of the dextrin molecules by adjusting the source of starch, the reaction conditions or the reaction time. Dextrins commonly serve as thickening agents in processed foods.

Aspartame

The artificial sweetener aspartame tastes 180 times sweeter than table sugar, according to Elmhurst College. Synthesized from the amino acids phenylalanine and aspartic acid, aspartame contains the same calories per gram as regular sugar, but because it tastes so much sweeter, you use much less aspartame than you would sugar. To produce aspartame, manufacturers mix phenylalanine with hydrochloric acid and methanol to create a methyl ester of phenylalanine which, when purified, reacts with aspartic acid to form aspartame molecules.