FUMARIC ACID

"Fumaric Acid" can be seen widely in plant materials but industrially, it is produced by rearranging maleic acid synthetically. Nippon Shokubai commercialized Fumaric Acid in the year 1955.

Characteristics of "Fumaric Acid"

"Fumaric Acid" is a food additive which is presently applied as a seasoning for fruit acidulants, but the degree of general understanding compared to other organic acids is insufficient. It's appearance is a white crystalline powder and has a strong acidic taste. You can see by the molecular weight that "Fumaric Acid" has a strong acidity next to that of acetic acid and oxalic acid and this fact can also be seen from the structural. However, acetic acid is a volatile acid and oxalic acid is physiologically harmful. Therefore, "Fumaric Acid" is the most highly qualified acid as a nonvolatile edible acid. For fruit based drinks or juices, citric acid is mostly applied and the acidity is about the same as maleic acid, but "Fumaric Acid" has an acidity of more than 1.5 times compared with the 2 acids above.

Specification

Specification for general industry

Item	Unit	Specification
Appearance	--	White crystalline powder
Color	APHA	50 max. (solution)
Purity	％	99.5 min.
Water	％	0.3 max.
Ash content	％	0.01 max.

Specification for food additive and feed additive

Item	Unit	Specification
Description	--	White crystalline powder.
Content	%	99.0 min.
Melting Point	ºC	287~302 (in sealed tube)
Sulphate (as SO4)	%	0.01 max.
Heavy Metals (as Pb)	µg/g	10 max.
Arsenic (as As2O3)	µg/g	4.0 max.

"Fumaric Acid" conforms to The Japanese Standards of Food Additives.

Application

Beverage (powdered juice, straight juice, concentrated juice, canned juice, lactic acid drink, fresh fruit juice etc.), ice candy, candy drops, jelly, pie filler, chewing gum etc. Substitute for citric acid or tartaric acid to froth up fruit syrup candy and snacks. Anti-oxidation agent.

Packing

25 kg net paper bag