Polyphosphates in the Food Industry

Some allowed food additives, for example, E-451 and F-452, contain the following PolyPs triphosphates - pentasodium triphosphate and pentapotassium triphosphate polyphosphates - sodium polyphosphate, potassium polyphosphates and calcium polyphosphate. 

There are many commercial phosphate-containing products for meat and fish treatment. For example, Puron CC, a fine granular powder consisting of sodium polyphosphates, is used in amounts of 0.2-0.5 % of the raw products as a component of brine for the manufacture of 

The improvement of methods of food treatment with PolyPs (Young et al., 1999) and of PolyP assays in food (Cozzani et al., 1996 Sekiguchi et al., 2000) is continuing. 

It should be taken into account that the abundance of PolyPs in food may have some unstudied effect on health. For example, if rats were fed with a high-phosphorus diet, they developed nephrocalcinosis. This was more severe in rats fed on PolyP3 than in those fed on pyrophosphate (Matsuzaki et al., 2001). Thus, the influence of PolyPs in food on human health needs further investigations, especially in view of those diseases associated with phosphate metabolism. 

In conclusion, it should be noted that we live in an environment with a permanent phosphorus excess. This factor, resulting from the wide use of phosphate-containing detergents, fertilizers and food additives may have some negative effects on the environment and human health. The biochemistry of PolyPs may offer new ways for overcoming unfavourable factors caused by phosphate contamination of the environment and for controlling infections and some other diseases. 

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