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Natural Food-Grade Preservatives
Go Directly to Order Form for Lumen Foods Natural Preservatives below
Read separate articles on: citric acid, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate.

Pineapple: high in citric acid The preservatives that are made, distributed, or sold by Lumen Foods all have the following characteristics: they are natural; they are found freely throughout nature; they are "safe," and are approved by the Center For Science in the Public Interest; and they are found at soybean.com, distributed to the public at or below benchmark wholesale prices. (Example: food manufacturers who still purchase their potassium sorbate from companies like Ashland Chemical, McKesson, or Van Waters & Rogers, for $4 to $5 per lb. wholesale, do so only because they haven't heard yet that they can get the same quality product imported by Lumen Foods for $2.70 / lb. or less.)*

Using Preservatives:
It's Safe, Easy, Cheap...
And It Can Protect Your
Family's Life...

Most people think of "preservatives" as unwanted, yet necessary, additives of the processed food industry - whose products we all enjoy.
And yet the fact is, preservatives are found throughout nature and many species of plant could not survive with their use. From a practical point of view, preservatives are everywhere and commonplace: salt, sugar, honey, and vinegar are all preservatives, and yet most people never think of them as such.
Preservatives are used commercially to: (1) extend shelf-life, (2) prevent fats from going rancid, (3) control micro-organisms that spoil foods, (4) regard enzymatic degradation, (5) keep flavors fresh, (6) keep mineral ions from interfering with food quality, and (7) in general, allow foods to stay closer to a kind of "stasis" so that the consumer enjoys the freshest product possible. These goals do not exist in isolation: any given preservative serves a spectrum of interrelated objectives, all of which serve to ensure that consumers have product which is as close in quality possible to the day it was made.
Among food technologists, the word "preservative" is extremely specific: it refers to sorbates, benzoates, propionates, and other polyunsaturated fats which inhibit microbe growth. Compounds that inhibit fat rancidity are called "antioxidants"; substances that make foods more acidic (i.e. citric or phosphoric acid) are called "acidulents"; additives that bind minerals are called "sequestering agents"; and ingredients like salt and sugar that reduce the water that microbes can make use of (or the "Aw" factor: a ratio of "free water" to "bound water") are called "solutes."
Don't let the technobabble confuse or deter you. Most people call all of them "preservatives," and that's okay. It's only important to know enough about food and their relation to preservatives to ensure that you're eating safe food. Anyone who is involved in their own long-term food storage program should at least know the basics.
When You Don't Need Preservatives
Nearly all processes that degrade the quality of food require the presence of water. (Food techs use a measure of water called "Aw factor" to determine if a given food has a sufficient level of "free water" to require further preservative protection. But our purposes, however, you don't need to.)
Because most companies and consumers who deal in long-term storage do so with dehydrated foods, little thought is given to preservatives, and for the following foods, that's fine: dried or dehydrated beans, grains, fruits and vegetables (provided they are canned or super pailed to provide an anaerobic, or oxygen free, environment); low-moisture foods containing substantial quantities of sugar, salt, or vinegar; MRE's; textured vegetable products, and similar "dried, extruded" protein products that have a moisture level of less than 6%; and other food products that are very low in moisture and are high in solutes.

When You Do Need Preservatives
& What's At Risk
Any time you have a higher moisture level, or a significant level of fat present, preservatives are a good idea. The risk of not using preservatives when they are called for is quite great: you're biggest threat is, of course, pathogenic organisms, including botulism, which are deadly. Among those situations when you'd want to use preservatives: canned soups (made at home), stored meat or dairy (not an area we deal in because we're vegetarian, but here's where a lot of food-borne illness comes from), even if stored in an anaerobic environment; canned preserves, jams, sauces (not powdered/dehydrated), edible fats, and any food storage situation where you don't have less than 6% moisture and an oxygen-free environment. There are, or course, many borderline situations. But the adage "better safe than sorry" applies.

How Do I Use Them?
The column at right discusses what preservatives we carry, why we carry them (and use them ourselves), and how you can use them as part of your arsenal at home to protect your family when dealing with those foods that are best stored (and protected) with preservatives.

Greg Caton, Founder, Lumen Foods
Greg Caton
Food Technologist
Founder, Lumen Foods
Lake Charles, Louisiana
June 5, 1999

The reason that Lumen Foods is (to the best of our knowledge) the only long-term food storage manufacturer that deals in food-grade preservatives is that most people in the industry know so little about it. Lumen Foods, by contrast, has specialized in intermediate moisture (or "IM mode") food stability since its inception in 1986. Any food that has 15 to 50% moisture (which just happens to currently include the majority of foods eaten by consumers in the Western World) is "IM mode," and it behooves consumers to know how to prevent stored IM mode foods from "going bad." Most food-borne illnesses are acquired by the consumption of IM mode foods, or foods with even higher moisture levels (i.e. meats, dairy products, soups, etc.) which, in the absense of good preservation techniques, became the breeding ground for pathogenic organisms. The column at left will help you determine if a given food you are storing needs preservatives.

Techniques for Using
Food Grade Preservatives

We offer three important products to the public to help in their preservation effort: one acidulent ("citric acid") and two preservatives ("sodium benzoate" and "potassium sorbate").
The purpose of the citric acid is to create a low pH, an acidic environment low enough so that the preservatives will be effective. You can add quite a bit of citric acid, because not only is there no legal limit on usage, but it is one of the most natural metabolites of the body. Benzoate acid should be used sparingly: the FDA sets a 0.1% usage limit, and it's a good idea to hold to this limit since few natural fruits exceed this level. There is no legal limit on the use of potassium sorbate, but from a practical point of view, few applications in the food business require in excess of 3%. A usage level of 0.8% or lower is common.
Making it easy: Users have the choice of purchasing these ingredients separately, and following our instructions below, or purchasing our "Preservation Cocktail," a powdered blend consisting of 70% potassium sorbate, 27% citric acid, and 3% sodium benzoate. You simply measure out enough Cocktail to ensure that you're using 1 part, by weight, to every 30 parts of food (3.33%). Take that portion of Cocktail, dissolve and mix thoroughly in boiling water, and mix it in thoroughly with your food. We can't emphasize "thoroughly" enough. Since the food you are attempting to preserve, usually by canning or jarring, will vary in its own water activity level, pH, initial bacterial count, etc. this is just a rough measure, and it attempts to "overkill," if anything. Furthermore, in using the Cocktail, remember that you should not sacrifice any of the good practices inherent in canning or jarring just because you now have extra insurance. Because that's all that any preservative ever gives you: extra insurance.

Ask Us: It's Why We're Here
We realize that a single web page cannot begin to cover all the possible applications for food-grade preservatives. And there are few people outside the rarified world of food microbiologists at major corporations who know this area as well as we do. That's why we invite you to email us with any specific questions about food preservation.
If you are one of our customers who is already in the food business and has a background in food technology, you may not need any input from us. For all others, please call us if you need our help.

Ordering Below
Since to get to this page, you entered our Virtual Store, you can order now in the space below. If you plan to order more than 500 pounds, be sure to call to get special, freight-free pricing at (800) 256-2253, or, again, email us.
Code Description Size Unit Price Quantity
. Natural Food Grade Preservatives . . .
FC110 Citric Acid - 8 oz. bag 8 oz. 1.50 Qty:
FC112 Citric Acid - 5 lb. bag 5 lb. 9.95 Qty:
FC115 Citric Acid (100# bag) 100 lb. 110.00 Qty:
FC210 Sodium Benzoate - 8 oz. bag 8 oz. 1.39 Qty:
FC212 Sodium Benzoate - 5 lb. bag 5 lb. 8.50 Qty:
FC215 Sodium Benzoate (25 kg.: 55# bag) 55 lb. 44.00 Qty:
FC810 Potassium Sorbate - 8 oz. bag 8 oz. 4.50 Qty:
FC812 Potassium Sorbate - 5 lb. bag 5 lb. 24.50 Qty:
FC815 Potassium Sorbate (25 kg.: 55# bag) 55 lb. 154.00 Qty:
FC910 Preservation Cocktail - 8 oz. bag 8 oz. 5.00 Qty:
FC912 Preservation Cocktail - 5 lb. bag 5 lb. 25.50 Qty:
FC915 Preservation Cocktail (25 kg.: 55# bag) 55 lb. 164.00 Qty:

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