——As an emerging industry, the beverage industry has developed rapidly. The beverage varieties in China are mainly fruit and vegetable juice drinks, carbonated drinks, tea drinks and protein drinks. In order to meet the taste needs of consumers and improve the competitiveness of the beverage industry, food additives are usually added to the beverage to improve its sensory quality.——
1.Fruit and vegetable juice beverage
Fruit and vegetable juice drink is made from edible parts of fruits and vegetables through processing, fermentation and blending. Because fruits and vegetables are regional and seasonal, in order to enable consumers to drink fruit and vegetable juice drinks all year round, food additives are often added to fruit and vegetable juice drinks to improve flavor and prolong storage life.
Benzoic acid, sorbic acid, citric acid and its salts and other food additives are mostly used in orange juice, pineapple juice and tomato juice. The study found that in addition to sodium citrate, which can accelerate the degradation of vitamin C, other preservatives can not only extend the shelf life, but also have no significant impact on the content of vitamin C in fruit juice. Adding thickener or emulsifier to the original juice of fruits and vegetables will make the suspension of cytoplasm and small pieces of cell membrane in fruits and vegetables become turbid fruits and vegetables after micronization, thus improving the flavor and nutrition of fruits and vegetables.
Color-protecting agents are usually added to effectively prevent the fading and browning of synthetic drinks containing natural pigments such as carotenoids, anthocyanins, anthocyanins and lutein, and have certain antioxidant and fresh-keeping effects. For example, adding color fixative to the granular orange beverage can avoid the fading of the granular orange beverage during the shelf life; Adding color fixative to juice wine drinks can not only prevent color change, fading and sedimentation of juice wine drinks, but also prolong the storage period.
Some acid agents, such as citric acid, tartaric acid, lactic acid and acetic acid, will also be added to make the sour taste of the drink more pure, fresh and mild. Some studies have shown that compound phosphate is a good sour agent, which can promote the sour time, taste and color of fruit juice drinks.
2.Carbonated drinks
The carbonated beverage contains a mixture of soda and water, which has a long history of development. It is also called soda because of the addition of carbon dioxide to form carbonic acid. When the cap is opened, it will produce bubbles and make a sound with the discharge of gas. When drinking, it will have a stimulating feeling in the mouth (rusty taste), and has the effects of quenching thirst and relieving fatigue, which is deeply loved by consumers.
In the early stage, the sweeteners in carbonated beverages were mainly high power sweeteners such as sucrose and saccharin sodium, which were gradually eliminated due to unsafe factors. Now most of them are glucose, glucose syrup, cyclamate (sodium cyclamate), acesulfame (potassium acetylsulfamate), stevioside, etc. In addition, glucose syrup is not easy to crystallize when used in carbonated drinks, and the price is relatively low.
In the process of production and processing of carbonated drinks, the taste and flavor will be affected by temperature, pH, etc. Usually, some acid flavor agents will be added to improve the taste of carbonated drinks to meet the taste needs of different people. For example, the use of some sour agents in orange soda can not only maintain the taste and flavor of the orange, but also have the functions of color protection, oxidation resistance, corrosion prevention, etc.
The production of carbonated drinks is basically carried out at low temperature or normal temperature. A small part of carbonated drinks are pasteurized, and most of carbonated drinks are not sterilized. In order to inhibit the growth and reproduction of microorganisms such as putrefactive bacteria and prolong the storage life of beverages, a proper amount of preservatives such as benzoic acid and its sodium salt, sorbic acid and its potassium salt, sodium dehydroacetate are usually added to extend the shelf life of beverages.
Pigments are also commonly used in the production of carbonated beverages. Because carbonated drinks will be affected by heat, light, pH and oxygen during processing, and discoloration, discoloration or discoloration will occur, so some pigments are usually added to improve the commerciality of the drinks.
3.Tea beverage
Tea has a long history in China. Because of its convenient brewing, mellow and sweet taste, healthy and natural, and has the effect of removing free radicals in the body, various kinds of tea drinks with tea as the main raw material are gradually emerging, and tea drinks have also become one of the more popular beverage varieties.
As a new type of food additive, theanine is added in the production of tea drinks, which not only increases the quality of tea, but also has the effect of inhibiting the bitter and astringent substances in tea soup.
During the processing of iced black tea, because the tea beverage contains a large amount of tea polyphenols, it is very easy to be oxidized to form quinones when exposed to the air, and these quinones are extremely unstable, easy to break the bond and reconnect to brown pigment, resulting in the browning of the tea beverage. At this time, if a reasonable amount of food additive ascorbic acid is added, the quinones can be restored to the original polyphenol state, maintaining the original color and aroma of the tea beverage.
Different types of tea have deviations in taste. Adding sweeteners to the tea soup can ease or mask the bitter taste. In tea drinks, aspartyl phenylalanine methyl ester has a better effect. Tea drinks also often use natural acid, such as citric acid and malic acid, to adjust acidity and improve taste. In addition, the acid can also chelate with metal ions to avoid precipitation caused by metal ions. Brightly colored tea drinks give people a pleasant feeling. When the pH is low, the tea drinks will appear yellow. To avoid this phenomenon, appropriate amounts of carmine, amaranth and caramel pigments are often added.
4.Protein beverage
Protein drinks are mainly made from animal and plant raw materials through a series of processing to produce milky drinks. Because of its good nutritional value, it accounts for a large proportion in the beverage industry. The protein drink has many insoluble ingredients and is unstable in nature. The fat and protein in it are easy to layer. The fat floats on the upper layer because of its low density. Adding emulsifier or thickener can change this phenomenon. Adding polyglyceride to protein drinks can significantly improve the stability and dispersion of products, improve the quality and extend the shelf life.
