The role of silica in food

Created on 2024.12.16

The role of silica in food

1. Prevent caking and moisture absorption:

Many powdered foods, such as milk powder, coffee powder, and protein powder, are prone to clumping between particles due to electrostatic adsorption, moisture, and other factors. With its large specific surface area, silicon dioxide acts as a delicate "barrier," creating a space between the powder particles to prevent them from sticking together, thus maintaining the free flow of the food effectively. Additionally, its strong moisture absorption properties help absorb moisture from the surrounding environment, further enhancing its anti-caking effectiveness, ensuring that powdered foods maintain good looseness and flowability during storage and use.

Anti-corrosion and improvement of food texture and appearance:

Silica plays a unique role in improving the texture and appearance of food. It can make the surface of the food smoother and more delicate, for example, in baked goods, it can improve the pastry texture. Additionally, it has certain anti-corrosion properties by reducing the contact between food and microorganisms and oxygen in the external environment. This helps delay the food deterioration process to some extent, maintaining the freshness and quality stability of food, allowing it to retain a good appearance and taste over time.

3 ways to extend the shelf life of food:

In starchy foods (such as biscuits, potato chips), chocolate, candy and other foods, moisture is one of the key factors affecting its shelf life. Silica can efficiently absorb water in the food and the surrounding environment, as a "moisture barrier" for food, effectively prevent food from moisture, mildew, deterioration. After the appropriate addition of silica, these foods can maintain their original taste and quality for a longer time, whether it is crisp taste or sweet flavor can be better retained, thus extending the circulation cycle of products in the market, reducing the loss caused by short shelf life.

4, thickening and lubrication:

Silica performs well as a thickener in specific food systems. In the high temperature environment, its thickening performance is particularly significant, for example, in some hot processed dairy products, it can increase the viscosity of the product, make the product have a more mellow taste, but also help to improve the stability of the product, prevent whey precipitation and other phenomena. In liquid foods such as mutton soup, the addition of silica can give it the right consistency, so that consumers feel a richer texture level when they taste. In addition, due to its excellent lubrication properties, in the processing of substances such as sugar coating and capsules that require good fluidity, silica is like a "lubricant" to ensure that substances can be smoothly coated, filled and other operations, maintain the normal processing process, and improve production efficiency and product quality.

5, stable color:

For foods that are prone to fading or deterioration, such as meat products, fruits, etc., the color stabilization effect of silica is crucial. In these foods, silica can form a protective film that effectively blocks the damage of oxygen and light to food coloring. Taking meat products as an example, it can prevent myoglobin in meat from being oxidized and discolored, so that meat products always maintain bright color in the process of storage and sales, and enhance the visual appeal of products; For fruit products, it can reduce the color of vitamin C and other nutrients in the fruit due to oxidation, darkening, thereby extending the shelf life of fruit products and maintaining its good appearance quality.

Generally speaking, silicon dioxide, as a commonly used food additive, plays an important role in moisture-proofing, color stabilization, and enhancing fluidity. The rational use of silica in the food production process can help food manufacturers significantly improve product quality, effectively extend the shelf life of products, and gain a more favorable position in the competitive market, providing consumers with better quality and longer-lasting food products.