What Is Calcium Chloride And What Is It Used For?
By on Jan 3rd 2019
Also referred to as calcium dichloride and E509, calcium chloride is an inorganic compound that classifies as a salt. At room temperature, it is colorless and highly soluble in water. It can be used in everything from de-icing airplanes and coating road surfaces to an additive in our food.
What is Calcium Chloride used for?
One use for calcium is as a desiccant. Anything that qualifies as a desiccant means it’s used as a drying agent. Using calcium chloride in foods helps to absorb any moisture that would create an environment where bacteria would thrive.
It is also used both pre- and post-harvest to maintain firmness, reduce decay, and prevent certain diseases in fruits and vegetables
With such a widely-applicable benefit as a drying agent, calcium chloride is used in a number of applications. One of these applications includes de-icing and preventing the formation of ice. If you use rock salt in the winter for your home or business, you’re using a form of calcium chloride.
It’s also used in this way for road surfacing. The calcium chloride binds to dirt roads in a way that prevents the formation of dust. As a result, the need for grading is reduced by as much as 50% while the need for fill-in materials is decreased by as much as 80%.
Other common uses of calcium chloride include water treatment to increase the water hardness in swimming pools, in medicine to treat internal hydrofluoric acid burns and even cardiac arrest, in food applications and more. Let’s take a look at its use in food.
Is it safe to eat Calcium Chloride?
The uses of calcium chloride are plentiful, which leads to the question on whether it’s safe to consume. The use of calcium chloride in food relate to the fact that it is extremely salty in taste. It is used in brines, giving a salty taste without adding in all the sodium.
Using calcium chloride in food serves as a firming agent as well, and it is commonly found in cheese and tofu. Calcium chloride is generally recognized as safe (GRAS).
The benefits of Calcium Chloride
As far as food additives go, calcium chloride provides plenty of benefits to your health! This is especially true when it’s used in sports drinks. It acts as one of the electrolytes, helping your body maintain fluid through activities and helps you to maintain proper muscle and nerve functioning.
When calcium chloride is used in sports drinks, it also helps to maintain bone health and prevent muscle spasms. However, as with all food additives, using responsibly is important. We provide all the documents you need to ensure this is done, including safety data sheets, product handling information, and an allergen statement.
We sell calcium chloride pellets in 50 lb bags by Briners Choice. You can shop them and many other products all online at Ingredi.com!
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_chloride
https://www.livestrong.com/article/298211-what-is-calcium-chloride-used-for-in-food/
