A soft drink may be crystal clear in appearance, such as the common lemonade and cream soda. Or a soft drink may be cloudy, such as with citrus fruit-flavored drinks.
Thus, we can divide all soft drink into clear or cloudy drinks. The cloudiness is achieved either by the inclusion of a natural cloudy juice or by means of a clouding agent.
The latter is usually an oil-in-water emulsion from which fine globules of citrus or other natural oils are suspended in the liquid of the drinks and give it the characteristics cloudy appearance.
In carbonated soft drinks, an essential ingredient is carbon dioxide, which gives the fizziness to such beverages. In some of ingredients, this gaseous additive is sometimes referred to as carbonic acid, which forms when carbon dioxide is combined with water.
This gas also then contribute to the acidity of the beverage and, as such an auxiliary role as a preservative against spoilage.
Commonly used preservative in soft drinks are sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate and to a lesser degree, sulfur dioxide.
The soft drinks industry and indeed the entire food processing industry, has one continuous battle against the ever present hazard of microbiological spoilage when product to stands on the shelf.
Soft drinks that do not contain preservatives are usually processed under sophisticated hygienic conditions and treated in one manner or another, such as pasteurization, hot filling or ozonation, so that any microorganisms present in the beverage are killed before or during filling.
Some soft drinks may contain ingredients to give them a characteristics mouthfeel, that is, thicker sensation on the palate. These ingredients are usually natural plant gums or synthetic thickeners.
Still other ingredients may included for a specific brand profile, such as added vitamins and minerals as well as gimmicky items, such as energy boosters, isotonic or hypotonic salts, antioxidants and a plethora of alleged medicinal, nutritional and health boosters.
Soft Drinks – Preservatives
