Short Review of Sulphites as Food Additives.

Sulphites or sulphiting agents refer to sodium hydrogen sulphite, sodium metabisulphite, potassium metabisulphite, calcium sulphite, calcium hydrogen sulphite, and potassium hydrogen sulphite. As food additives, they are widely used by the food industry with a variety of commercial uses in food and beverages. Sulphites are effective bleaching agents, antimicrobials, oxygen scavengers, reducing agents, and enzyme inhibitors. Wine, beer, dehydrated fruits and vegetables, jam, juice, sugar, processed potatoes, seafood, meat and baked products are some of the food categories in which sulphites are added. Sulphites have been implicated in various health related issues. Asthmatic reactions and some antinutritional consequences such the degradation of thiamine (vitamin B1) are adverse reactions associated with sulphites. In many countries, sulphites have been regulated. Sulphites are generally recognized as safe in the USA with some exceptions when using in raw fruits and vegetables. In the European Union sulphites are also controlled, and the permitted amount varies according to the food product.

Análise de sulfitos em sucos de frutas e estimativa de seu consumo por escolares / Analytical determination of sulphites in fruit juices and estimation of their intake by students

No Brasil os dados sobre a utilização dos sulfitos pela indústria de alimentos e pesquisas sobre o seu consumo são escassos. Sendo assim, o objetivo desta pesquisa foi avaliar o nível de sulfitos em sucos de frutas e estimar seu consumo por escolares de 5ª. a 8ª. séries de escolas públicas, do ensino fundamental, do município de São Caetano do Sul-SP, Brasil. Foi aplicado questionário de freqüência de consumo de alimentos (QFCA) em 313 escolares, sendo 56,9 % do sexo feminino e 43,1 % do sexo masculino, com média de idade de 14,7 anos. Os alimentos sulfitados mais consumidos foram os néctares ou sucos de frutas, o açúcar refinado, as batatas fritas congeladas, o coco ralado, o suco de caju e as frutas secas e cristalizadas. Considerando os limites máximos permitidos (LMP) pela legislação brasileira, o consumo de SO2, em mg SO2/kg pc/dia, foi de 0,12 mg SO2/kg pc/dia, sendo que este valor médio corresponde a 17% da IDA (0,7 mg SO2/kg pc/dia). Já os resultados das análises dos sucos de frutas demonstram que a análise por injeção em fluxo (Flow injection analysis - FIA) modificada obteve resultados de sulfitos nas amostras analisadas com menor variação do que aqueles obtidos pelo método Monier-Williams (M-W) otimizado, e que nenhuma amostra ultrapassou os LMP.

In Brazil there are no data on use of sulphites by the food industry and research on their consumption by population. Thus, the objective of this research was to evaluate sulphites in fruits juices and estimate intake sulphites in a group of 5th 8th schoolchildren of public schools in São Caetano do Sul-SP, Brazil. It was applied a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) at 313 schoolchildrens (56.9% female, 43.1% male and average age 14.7 years). Sulphited products identified were fruits juices, sugar, frozen chips, grated coconut, cashew juice and dried fruits. Considering maximum permitted levels (MPL) stabilished by Brazilian legislation, none of the students exceeded the ADI of 0.70 mg SO2/kg bw/day, with average of consumption of 0.12 mg SO2/kg bw/day (17 % of the ADI). The results of the fruits juices analysis demonstrated flow injection analysis (FIA) modified obtained better results than optimized Monier-Williams method (M-W) and no sample exceeded the MPL.