About Gordon Young Expertise Design of processes for food manufacture, food preservation, and equipment sourcing/selection. Particular areas of expertise are drying, thermal processing, and extrusion.
Experience 13 years experience with a food research organisation, University teaching and research in food science & technology, industry training, and consulting.
Organizations Australian Institute of Food Science & Technology
Institution of Engineers Australia
Education/Credentials Bachelor of Engineering
Master of Engineering Science
Graduate Diploma of Technology Management
Question Hello! I am developing my own line of hot sauce. I do not cook the hot sauce and I am looking for something to add as a preservative. I have read that sodium benzoate is useful for this because it will inhibit the growth of micro-organisms. But there is wine and sherry in this recipe that contain alcohol, so wouldn't that do the same thing? Any advice would be appreciated.
Answer I would advise extreme caution in what you are planning.
Firstly - sodium benzoate is used as a preservative, but generally to prevent spoilage by yeasts and moulds rather than bacteria. In fact, even some of these are resistant to benzoate, so commonly a mixture of sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate is used, covering a much greater range.
However, I am not aware of these being effective against bacteria.
Certainly alcohol, in sufficient concentration, will prevent bacterial growth, however I don't know what level of alochol is needed (you would need to consult a food microbiologist on this). It would be at least a few percent, and I doubt there will be that much alcohol in your sauce.
Assuming this is the case, I don't see how you can ensure the preservation and safety of this product without some form of heat treatment. Even then, another critical factor is pH (acidity). If the sauce is "low acid" (pH greater than about 4.4) the sauce and the bottle it is packed in would require a high level of heat treatment to ensure its safety - much higher than normal boiling point, so it can't be achieved in a normal kitchen. Note that if it is not properly treated, and is stored at room temperature under anaerobic conditions (no oxygen, eg closed containers) is is possible for certain pathogens (food poisoning micro organisms) to grow which produce DEADLY toxins.
However, it is likely your sauce is high acid (pH less than 4.3). In this case ensuring the bottle and sauce reaches 90 degrees celsius or above would preserve the product, as long as no recontamination (eg from the atmosphere) can occur. Eg the "hot fill" method can be easily applied - fill the bottles with the sauce at a temperature higher than 90 C, close it and turn upside down for some minutes to allow the hot suace to "sterilise" the bottle before cooling. Lower levels of heat treatment can be sufficient depending on pH etc.
