What are the applications of calcium hydroxide in the food sector?

Calcium hydroxide, also known as slaked lime, is a common auxiliary material used in industry, especially in the construction industry, where it is widely used for masonry bonding and wall painting materials. Calcium hydroxide is a strong alkali, with alkali properties, but its solubility is very poor, and the corrosiveness and alkalinity of its solution is relatively small, so it can be used as an acidity regulator in foodstuffs, playing the role of buffer, neutralization, curing and so on. Food grade calcium hydroxide has relatively high activity, loose structure, high purity, good whiteness, low impurity content, and does not contain harmful elements such as Pb and As. Application of calcium hydroxide in the production of calcium agent

Calcium preparations on the market include calcium carbonate, calcium citrate, calcium lactate, calcium gluconate and so on totaling nearly 200 kinds. Calcium hydroxide as a raw material is widely used in calcium production industry, of which the common calcium gluconate, in our country at present are used in the fermentation method of production, the process is: starch by the saccharification of the fermentation of Aspergillus niger, fermentation liquid with the milk of lime (calcium hydroxide) and neutralization by the concentration, crystallization, refining to get the finished product of calcium gluconate.
Application of calcium hydroxide in milk powder production
Calcium hydroxide can be used as acidity regulator in milk powder (including sweetened milk powder) and cream milk powder and its modulation products, infant formula food, and the amount of use is according to the production needs of the appropriate amount of use.
Because milk powder, especially infant formula or food contains a certain amount of different kinds of proteins, due to the existence of ionized side chains on the surface of proteins, proteins with a net charge, these side chains are titratable, for each protein there is a pH so that its surface net charge is zero, i.e., the isoelectric point.
In the isoelectric point, protein molecules in the form of amphoteric ions, the net charge of its molecules is zero (i.e., positive and negative charges are equal), at this time the protein molecular particles in solution because there is no mutual exclusion of the same charge, the molecules are weakened by the force of each other, and the particles are very easy to collide, cohesion and precipitation, add a certain amount of calcium hydroxide in the powdered milk to adjust the powdered milk pH to make it soluble in water when it can be dispersed It can also play the role of nutritional enhancement by adding certain amount of calcium hydroxide in milk powder.
Application of calcium hydroxide in the production of rice tofu and ice cold noodles
Use soaked rice, add water, grind into rice paste, add cooked lime water and mix well, heat and stir until the rice paste is cooked and thick. Pour the boiled rice syrup into the mold, completely cooled, you can use a knife to cut into small pieces, rice tofu is made. In this slaked lime acts as a coagulant. It also provides calcium. The process of making ice cold noodles also requires the addition of slaked lime, which, likewise, acts as a coagulant.
Calcium hydroxide in the making of skinny eggs
Slaked lime, soda ash and grass ash are used as raw materials to make a slurry wrapped around the surface of the egg, and after a period of time, by chemical action, it becomes a skin egg that can be eaten directly. Protein encountered strong alkali, gradually become watery, if the alkaline solution through the semi-permeable membrane continues to enter the egg, alkaline continues to increase, alkaline protein molecules began to polymerize viscosity gradually increased, into a gel, the formation of skin eggs. If the alkaline excess, will not be conducive to the quality of the skin eggs. Calcium hydroxide in the production of konjac food application
China’s folk production and use of konjac gel food has a history of 2,000 years, the production method of konjac flour, add 3050 times the number of water, stirred into a paste, add konjac flour 5% -7% of calcium hydroxide by mixing, solidification and get.
In the konjac gel food production process, the industry practice is to use calcium hydroxide, because konjac food must be in the alkali in order to solidify, at the same time the use of calcium hydroxide to create konjac gel food, from the gel, taste, color and economy are better than other alkali, which is our country since ancient times has been used in the alkali, and calcium ions can be absorbed by the body.
On the other hand, made of konjac gel food and must be immersed in liquid preservation, so calcium hydroxide and play the role of acidity regulator. In Japan, calcium hydroxide is also a recognized alkali (acidity regulator) in the konjac food industry. Application of calcium hydroxide in sugar industry
Calcium hydroxide is used in the sugar production process to neutralize the acid in the syrup, and then carbon dioxide is passed through the syrup to make the remaining calcium hydroxide into a precipitate to be filtered out, so as to reduce the acidity of the sugar. It can also combine with sucrose to form sucrose salt, so it can be used in molasses desugarization or sugar refining.
Bagasse is a by-product of the sugar industry and is a cheap roughage, but because of its high degree of lignification and low digestibility, it is not directly used as animal feed. Domestic and foreign attempts to deal with bagasse in various ways, of which alkali treatment is the most effective, with 8% calcium hydroxide solution treated with corticomedullary mixed bagasse and pineapple pomace silage mixture, its in vitro dry matter digestibility up to 61.53%. Calcium hydroxide in other food applications
Calcium hydroxide is used as a buffering, neutralizing and solidifying agent in beer, cheese and cocoa products. Because of its pH adjustment and solidification, it can also be used in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, food additives, the synthesis of high-tech biomaterials HA, the synthesis of VC phospholipids for feed additives, and the synthesis of calcium naphthenate, calcium lactate, calcium citrate, additives in the sugar industry, and the synthesis of water treatment and other high-grade organic chemicals. For the preparation of edible meat semi-products, konjac products, beverage products, pharmaceutical enemas and other acidity regulators and calcium sources to provide helpful.
Foreign calcium hydroxide industry developed earlier, its annual output can reach more than ten million tons, to the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Japan, South Korea, etc. to produce high purity, high whiteness.
Compared with foreign enterprises, China’s food-grade calcium hydroxide enterprise production capacity is far from adequate, high-grade products due to technical reasons can not meet the needs of the international market, both quantity and quality can not be compared with foreign enterprises.
Therefore, it is very necessary to develop domestic calcium hydroxide enterprises with high starting point and high speed. With China’s current technology development in the biological field, the application of calcium hydroxide will be more and more extensive, especially food grade calcium hydroxide demand is huge.