Concentrated soft drinks

Concentrated soft drinks became very important during, and in the early years following, the Second World War. Many were based on concentrated orange juice, which was widely available as a nutritional supplement, and were packed in flat-walled medicine bottles. 

---

The main markets for concentrated soft drinks developed in the United Kingdom and its former empire. The products became universally known as squashes or cordials and became enshrined as such in UK legislation in the 1960s. 

As indicated in Section 1.2.2, some markets are substantial consumers of concentrated soft drinks. These products are purchased in concentrate form by the consumer, who then adds water (which can be carbonated if required) to achieve... 

Most concentrated beverages contain fruit juice or whole fruit , a term that refers to a comminuted form of citius that includes components of juice, essential oil, peel (flavedo) and pith (albedo). Concentrated soft drinks are usually flash-pasteurised and chemically preserved. Their dilutable form means that they are often held in partially filled bottles for significant lengths of time (often many weeks or even months) and are extremely vulnerable to spoilage by micro-organisms. 

Foaming is sometimes unwelcomed in syrups, fruit concentrates, soft drinks, vegetable oHs, tea and coffee extracts and in many other commodities. Reduction of foaming in these cases can be achieved by adding certain substances to cause the coUapse of the foam. Their effect depends on their tendency to form a monomolecular film on the surface, which destabilises the foam. Often these substances reduce the surface tension of the Hquid phase to the threshold value at which the bubble walls are so thin that they burst. Commonly used additives are silicone oils in concentrations of 10-100 mg/kg and also primary fatty alcohols, fatty amides, fatty acids and their esters. 

Sucralose is quite stable to heat over a wide range of pH. However, the pure white dry powder, when stored at high temperature, can discolor owing to release of small quantities of HCl. This can be remedied by blending it with maltodextrin (93) and other diluents. The commercial product can be a powder or a 25% concentrate in water, buffered at pH 4.4. The latter solution may be stored for up to one year at 40°C. At lower pH, there is minimal decomposition. For example, in a pH 3.0 cola carbonated soft drink stored at 40°C, there is less than 10% decomposition after six months. The degradation products are reported to be the respective chlorinated monosaccharides, 4-chloro-4-deoxy-galactose (13) and l,6-dichloro-l,6-dideoxy-fmctose (14) (94). 

Sodium and potassium benzoate are substances that may be added direcdy to human food and are affirmed as GRAS (33—35). Benzoic acid and sodium and potassium benzoate are now used as preservatives in such foods as sauces, pickles, cider, fmit juices, wine coolers, symps and concentrates, mincemeat and other acidic pie fillings, margarine, egg powder, fish (as a brine dip component), bottled carbonated beverages, and fmit preserves, jams, and jellies. The popularity of diet soft drinks has led to increased demand for both benzoate salts. 

Concentrated Flavor or Beverage Bases. Parent soft drink companies may provide franchise bottlers with concentrated flavor or beverage bases that contain all of the necessary iagredients with some exceptions. In certain cases, nutritive sweeteners, preservatives, and some nonnutritive sweeteners may be purchased by the franchise bottler or packaged separately. 

PETP flakes produced from used soft drinks bottles were subjected to alkaline hydrolysis in aqueous sodium hydroxide. A phase transfer catalyst (trioctylmethylammonium bromide) was used to enable the depolymerisation reaction to take place at room temperature and under mild conditions. The effects of temperature, alkali concentration, PETP particle size, PETP concentration and catalyst to PETP ratio on the reaction kinetics were studied. The disodium terephthalate produced was treated with sulphuric to give terephthalic acid of high purity. A simple theoretical model was developed to describe the hydrolysis rate. 17 refs. 

Carbonated beverages illustrate what happens when a dissolved gas undergoes a rapid drop in pressure. Soft drinks, soda water, and champagne are bottled under several atmospheres pressure of carbon dioxide. When a bottle is opened, the total pressure quickly falls to 1 atm. At this lower pressure, the concentration of CO2 in the solution is much higher than its solubility, so the excess CO2 forms gas bubbles and escapes from the liquid. As the photo shows, this process can be dramatic. 

Determination of caffeine in soft drinks was undertaken using the aerosol alkali flame ionization detector.24 Soft drinks studied were Coke, Diet Coke, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, and Mountain Dew. A sample clean-up and concentration procedure is employed followed by GC separation with alkali flame ionization detection. Results showed that Coke, Diet Coke, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, and Mountain Dew contained 41 2, 52 2, 43 4, 35 9, 46 6, and 60 15 mg caffeine per 355-ml serving. These values compared favorably with levels reported in the literature. 

Atomic absorption spectrometry is one of the most widely used techniques for the determination of metals at trace levels in solution. Its popularity as compared with that of flame emission is due to its relative freedom from interferences by inter-element effects and its relative insensitivity to variations in flame temperature. Only for the routine determination of alkali and alkaline earth metals, is flame photometry usually preferred. Over sixty elements can be determined in almost any matrix by atomic absorption. Examples include heavy metals in body fluids, polluted waters, foodstuffs, soft drinks and beer, the analysis of metallurgical and geochemical samples and the determination of many metals in soils, crude oils, petroleum products and plastics. Detection limits generally lie in the range 100-0.1 ppb (Table 8.4) but these can be improved by chemical pre-concentration procedures involving solvent extraction or ion exchange. 

The refractive index also varies with the amount of substance in a mixture. Most often, refractive index is used to assess the concentration of sugar in wine, soft drinks, cough medicines and other preparations having relatively high concentrations of sucrose. Refractive index is also used to determine the concentration of alcohol in fermented products. For sucrose solutions the refractive index varies from 1.3330 (pure water) to 1.5033 when the solution contains 85% sucrose. This is an increase of approximately 0.0002 in the refractive index for each 0.1%... 

The sugar concentration, measured as sucrose, of a soft drink was determined using a refractometer with a °Brix scale. The refractometer reading was 10.5° Brix. What is the sugar concentration ... 

Degradation and side reactions are limited in the solid state due to the lower processing temperatures used. PET, for use in bottle applications, is a notable example. Small concentrations of acetaldehyde (AA), a by-product of degradation and side reactions in PET, can affect the taste of carbonated soft drinks and mineral water. The SSP process is the best means of achieving PET bottles with acceptable levels of AA. 

Another RP-HPLC technique has been applied for the determination of synthetic food dyes in soft drinks with a minimal clean-up. Separation of dyes was obtained in an ODS column (150 x 4 mm i.d. particle size 5 pm). Solvents A and B were methanol and 40 mM aqueous ammonium acetate (pH = 5), respectively. Gradient conditions were 0-3 min, 10 per cent A 3-5 min, to 25 per cent A 5-8 min, 25 per cent A 8-18 min, to 75 per cent A 18-20 min, 75 per cent A. The flow rate was 1 ml/min and dyes were detected at 414 nm. The separation of synthetic dyes achieved by the method is shown in Fig. 3.35. The concentrations of dyes found in commercial samples are compiled in Table 3.21. The quantification limit depended markedly on the type of dye, being the highest for E-104 (4.0 mg/1) and the lowest for E-102 and E-110 (1.0 mg/1). The detection limit ranged from 0.3 mg/1 (E-102 and E-110) to 1.0 mg/ml (E-104 and E-124). It was suggested that the method can be applied for the screening of food colourants in quality control laboratories [113]. 

Samples Soft drinks (trade name) Colour Concentration (mg/1)... 

Little information on the levels of 1,4-dichlorobenzene concentrations in infant and toddler foods and in baby formula was located. Page and Lacroix (1995) analyzed a variety of beverage and food samples for 32 different volatile contaminants, including 1,4-dichlorobenzene and found residue levels to be quite low (range, 0.1-22 ppb). Soft drink samples contained 0.1 g/kg (ppb), while cream with 10% butterfat, butter, margarine, peanut butter, flour, and pastry mix contained concentrations of 0.1 ppb, 1.3-2.7 ppb, 12.2-14.5 ppb, 1.2-8.8 ppb, 7.3 ppb, and 22 ppb, respectively. No information was located to determine whether children differed in their weight-adjusted intake of 1,4-dichlorobenzene. 

Caffeine is the most widely consumed stimulant drug in the world. It occurs naturally in coffee, tea, and the cola nut and is added to many soft drinks. Many of us consume coffee and soft drinks because of the desirable stimulatory effects produced by caffeine many of us have consumed too much caffeine and felt the consequences. The undesirable effects of caffeine, the agitation, the inability to concentrate, the mild tremors, and the general unpleasantness, are a form of neurotoxicity. Literally your brain, and more specifically, the adenosine receptors in your brain, has too much caffeine. These effects are a reversible form of neurotoxicity. Fortunately, we metabolize caffeine quickly and the undesirable effects end. By experience we have learned how to moderate our caffeine consumption to avoid the unpleasant side effects. A great deal of money is made from the neuroactive and physiological effects of caffeine. You can learn more about this fascinating drug in the chapter on caffeine. 

Concentrations of fluoride in fruit and vegetable juices are generally low [17], Concentrations exceeding 1 mg/L of fluoride were determined in 18 out of 43 ready-to-drink juices in the United States, most probably due to contamination with fluoride-containing pesticides [116], Higher concentrations of fluoride in the range from 0.02 to 2.8 mg/L in 532 juices [117] and 1.2-5.4 mg/L in 20 juices [118] were also reported. Concentrations of fluoride in 332 soft drinks ranged from 0.02 to 1.28 mg/L and exceeded 0.60 mg/L of fluoride for 71% of the... 

There are two basic types of soft drinks the so-called ready-to-drink (RTD) products that dominate the world market and the concentrated or dilute-to-taste products that are still important in some markets. These include syrups and so-called squashes and cordials. 

---