Effect of Potassium bisulphite as a food preservative

under various conditions.

PRESENTED TO PRESENTED BY
Mr Piyush Mani Tripathi Alka Patel

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY
 RPM ACADEMY
Rudrapur Kushmi Gorakhpur Utter Pradesh, 273202

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Alka Patel a student of class XII, has

successfully completed his Chemistry project work under
the guidance of Mr Piyush Mani Tripathi Chemistry
teacher, during the academic year 2019-20, in partial
fulfilment of the requirements of the Central Board of
Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi.

Signature of the Teacher:

Date of Submission:
School Stamp:
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this humble opportunity to express my sincere indebtedness

to everybody who has extended their help for this thesis possible.
It is just beyond my vocabularies and linguistic abilities to express
my feeling and gratitude to my revered teacher Mr Piyush Mani
Tripathi for hid in exhaustive guidance, sympathy, bivalence which
be bestowed upon me during the accomplishment of this work,
His encouragement, enthusiasm, valuable discussion, creative
criticism and timely interventions went a long way enabling me to
complete this project in presentable form.
I am highly grateful to my parents who had been fighting tooth
and nail off along my education career to bring me to the present
stage. The dedication of this work to them cannot suffice to what
extent they have suffered but only may be a slight consideration
to them.
Last but the least, I pay respectable thanks from the core of my
heart to god almighty for providing me opportunity to do this
work and blessing through his invisible presence in every aspects
of my life.

Alka Patel
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 The objective of this project is to study
the effect of Potassium bisulphite as a food
preservative under various conditions.

Concentration

Conditions

Time Temperature
 Growth of microorganisms in a food material can be inhibited by adding
certain chemical substances. However the chemical substances should not be
harmful to human beings. Such chemical substances which are added to food
materials to prevent their spoilage are known as chemical
preservatives. In our country, two chemical preservatives which are
permitted for use are:

1. Benzoic acid(or sodium benzoate)

2. Sulphur dioxide(or potassium bisulphite)

Benzoic acid or its sodium salt, sodium benzoate is commonly used for the
preservation of food materials. For the preservation of fruits, fruit juices,
squashes and jams sodium benzoate is used as preservative because it is
soluble in water and hence easily mixes with the food product.

Potassium bisulphite is used for the preservation of colourless food

materials such as fruit juices, squashes, apple and raw mango chutney. This
is not used for preserving coloured food materials because
Sulphur dioxide produced from this chemical is a bleaching agent.
Potassium bisulphite on reaction with acid of the juice liberates Sulphur
dioxide which is very effective in killing the harmful micro-organisms
present in food stuffs and thus prevents it from getting spoilt.

HSO3–(aq) + H+(aq) H2O(l) + SO2(g)

The advantage of this method is that no harmful chemical is left in the

food. The Manitoba Agriculture, Food and rural Initiatives reports that this
product works to prevent the growth of mould, yeast and
bacteria in foods. It is also an additive for homemade wine. Potassium
bisulphite is found in some cold drinks and fruit juice concentrates. Sulphites
are common preservatives in smoked or processed meats and dried fruits. In
spray form, it may help prevent foods from discolouring or browning.
The aim of this project is to study the effect of potassium
bisulphite as food preservative.
i. At different temperatures.
ii. At different concentrations and
iii. For different intervals of time.
Requirements
Requirements
Food materials undergo natural changes due to
temperature, time and enzymatic action and become
unfit for consumption. These changes may be checked
by adding small amounts of potassium bisulphite. The
effectiveness of KHSO3 as preservative depends upon its
concentration under different conditions which may be
determined experimentally. An ideal method of food
preservation has the following characteristics:
1. It improves shelf-life and safety by inactivating spoilage
and pathogenic microorganisms,
2. It does not change organoleptic (smell, taste, colour,
texture, etc.) and nutritional attributes,
3. It does not leave residues,
4. It is cheap and convenient to apply and
5. It encounters no objection from consumers and
legislators.
1. Take fresh fruits, wash them
thoroughly with water and peel off
their outer cover.
2. Grind it to a paste in the mortar with a

pestle.
3. Mix with sugar and coloring matter.

4. The material so obtained is fruit jam.

It may be used to study the effect of

concentration of sugar and KHSO3,
temperature and time.
(A)Effect of concentration of Sugar: -
1. Take three wide mouthed reagent bottles labeled
as I, II, III. Put 100 gm. of fruit jam in each
bottle.
2. Add 5.0 gm, 10.0 gm and 15.0 gm of sugar to bottle
no. I, II and III respectively.
3. Add 0.5 gm of KHSO3 to each bottle.
4. Mix contents thoroughly with a stirring rod.
5. Close the bottle and allow them to stand for one
week or 10 days at room temperature.
6. Observe the changes taking place in Jam every day.

Bottle Wt. of Wt. of Wt. of Observations (Days)

No. jam taken sugar KHSO3 1 2 3 4 5
added

I 100 gm 5.00 gm 0.5gm NO NO NO Few Few

Change Change Change Change More
Change

II 100 gm 10.00 gm 0.5 gm NO NO Few Some Few

Change Change Change Change more
Change

III 100 gm 15.00 gm 0.5 gm NO Few Few Some More

Change Change Change Change Change

RECORD:

Result: The increase in concentration of sugar

causes fast decaying .
 (B)Effect of concentration of KHSO3 :–
1. Put 100 gm of Jam in each bottle.
2. Add 5.0 gm of sugar to each bottle.
3. Take bottles labeled as I, II, III.
4. Add 1.0 gm, 2.0 gm and 3.0 gm of KHSO3 to bottle
no. I, II and III respectively.
5. Mix the contents thoroughly with a glass rod.
6. Keep all the bottles at room temperature for about
10 days and observe the changes everyday.

RECORD:

Bottle Wt. of Wt. of Wt. of Observations (Days)

No. jam taken sugar KHSO3
added 1 2 3 4 5

I 100 gm 5.00 gm 1.0gm no no no few some

II 100 gm 5.00 gm 2.0gm no no no no few

III 100 gm 5.00 gm 3.0 gm no no no no no

Result: The increase in concentration of KHSO3

increase more time of preservation
 (C)Effect of temperature: –
1. Take 100 gm of Jam in three bottles labeled as I,
II and III.
2. Add 10.0 gm of sugar and 2.0 gm of KHSO3 to
bottle no. I, II and III respectively.
3. Mix the contents thoroughly with a stirring rod.
4. Keep bottle No. I in the refrigerator at 0˚C, bottle
No. II at room temperature (25˚C) and bottle No.
III in a thermostat at 50˚C. Observe the changes
taking place in the jam for 10 days.
RECORD:

Bottle Wt. of Wt. of Wt. of Observations (Days)

No. jam sugar KHSO3
taken
added 1 2 3 4 5

I 100 gm 10.00 2.0gm No No No No No

gm change change change change change
II 100 gm 10.00 2.0 gm No No No No Slight
gm change change change change change
III 100 gm 10.00 2.0 gm No No Slight Some Some
gm change change change change more
change

Result: The increase in temperature causes

faster fermentation of jam.
 (D) Effect of time: –
1. Take three bottles and label them as I, II and III.
2. To each bottle add 25 g of Jam and 1 g of
potassium bisulphite.
3. Keep bottle I for 7 days, bottle II for 14 days and
bottle III for 21 days at room temperature.
4. Note the changes taking place in each bottle and
record the observations.

RECORD:

Observations(Days)
Bottle No. 7 14 21
I No ****** ******

II No Taste ******
changes

III No No Unpleasant smell

develops

Result: With increase of days, the quality of the

Jam deteriorates.
From the experiment, we can conclude that KHSO3 acts as a
viable food preservative whose increased concentration can
increase time for preservation. But increase in concentration of
sugar content in the food material causes fast decaying. Also, the
experiment shows that rate of fermentation of food stuffs is
directly proportional to temperature conditions. On passage of
time, even in the presence of KHSO3, the food gets spoiled. Though
potassium bisulphite is a good food preservative (class II
preservative), it can trigger lung irritation and asthma. So, our
suggestion is that the usage of food preservatives must be reduced
to the extent possible.

Reference books:
  NCERT CLASS 12 CHEMISTRY BOOKS-
PART I, II
 CONCISE INORGANIC CHEMISTRY -
BY J.D.LEE
 NCERT LABORATORY MANUAL -
CLASS 12 CHEMISTRY
Reference websites:
 www.google.co.in
 en.wikipedia.org
 www.ncert.nic.in
 www.livestrong.com