Fumaric acid is in almost all foods.
Fumaric acid is present in all natural foods because it is an essential ingredient in all living things--plant and animal. It is a link in the process known as the krebs cycle that is fundamental to the metabolism process in all living things. It is also added to processed foods because it lowers pH, adds tartness and prevents caking. Fumaric acid is in almost all foods.
Breads
Fumaric acid is added to bakery products for a variety of reasons. It helps produce the nooks and crannies in English muffins, it keeps tortillas from molding and it keeps pancake mix from clumping. It provides the sourness in rye and sourdough bread. It improves the shelf life of flours and cornmeal, and helps in the dry ingredient mixing stage of many products. It also helps speed up the kneading process and prepares the dough for easy processing by large machinery. In boxed products (like cake mixes) it lowers the pH of the product, which keeps it from absorbing moisture and prevents mold.
Drinks
Fumaric acid is in fruit juices for a variety of reasons. It provides tartness, and at the pH of most fruit juices (3.0 to 3.6) it acts as a buffer to stabilize pH and thus protect color and flavor. In combination with sodium benzoate, fumaric acid repels bacteria--especially e. coli. Fumaric acid is often added to wine because it reduces pH without changing taste, prevents further fermentation and removes metallic trace elements. It is added to dairy-based drinks like chocolate milk. eggnog and drinkable yogurt. It is commonly added to sports drinks, beer, malt and alcoholic drinks with less than 20 percent alcohol and claims to fruit flavors--like wine coolers and adult lemonades.
Other Foods
Fumric acid is added to jams, jellies, preserves, candies and dry mixes because it prevents the absorption of moisture, which means less decay and longer shelf like. It is added to anything that needs to be tangier--especially at industrial sizes. It mixes well with either dry or liquid ingredients and tends to stabilize both ingredients and mixtures. It is an inexpensive and reliable way to add volume to gel and "egg-white-fluff" concoctions. Fumric acid is added to all cheeses, most puddings, spreads like margarine and pate and to ices, sherbets and sorbets. It is in soups, broths, canned meats, almost all condiments and in prepared salads like macaroni salad and potato salad. Fumric acid seems to be equally popular in Japan where it is added to rice cakes and all soybean products.
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