Dairy Ingredients for Food Processing

Table 11.15.

Salient features of certain commonly used emulsifying salts in process cheese.

Emulsifying salt

Chemical formula

pH, 1% solution

Calcium chelation power

Effect on fi rmness of

process cheese *

Effect on

meltability of process cheese *

Other properties and typical

products used in

Trisodium citrate

(dihydrate)

Na

C 3

H 6

O 5

.2H 7

O 2

8.6

Low

2

4

Typically used in slice - on - slice

process cheese

Disodium phosphate

(dehydrate)

Na

HPO 2

.2H 4

O 2

9.1

Low

2

2

Used in loaves and cheese spreads Has bacteriostatic properties, used

in shelf - stable sauces and process cheeses

Trisodium phosphate

(dodecahydrate)

Na

PO 3

.12H 4

O 2

11.9

Low

1

2

Mainly used in conjunction with

other emulsifying salts

Used for pH adjustment Has bacteriostatic properties

Sodium

hexametaphosphate

(NaPO

) 3 n

(n

= 10 – 15)

6.6

High

3

1

Used in conjunction with other

emulsifying salts

Commonly used to manufacture

reduced melt/no melt process cheese

Has bacteriostatic properties

Sodium aluminum

phosphate

9.2

Low

3

3

Commonly used in imitation

mozzarella - type cheese analogs

* The numbers have no numerical signifi

cance. They simply indicate the relative order of the effect of salts on the specifi

c process cheese property with the assumption that

the each of the salts is used at the same level. A higher number indicates higher values of the described property. Please note

that the amount used as well as combinations

of the above indicated salts lead to different properties Adapted from Kapoor and Metzger (2008) and Fox et al., (2000b)

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