Food For Thought

Calcium chloride has been used for decades as a food additive and in food processing operations, and for good reason. Treatment with calcium chloride helps extend the shelf life of a wide variety of food products while maintaining desirable texture and flavor properties. 

OxyChem offers three Kosher-certified, Halal-compliant calcium chloride products:

• BRINERS CHOICE® Anhydrous Calcium Chloride Pellets
• Food Grade Anhydrous 94-97% Calcium Chloride Pellets
• LIQUIDOW® Food Grade Calcium Chloride Solution  

All products are manufactured in OxyChem facilities in Ludington, Michigan, using rigorous quality-control procedures to help ensure outstanding product quality and application reliability.

Pre- and Post-Harvest Agricultural Applications

Pre-harvest applications of calcium chloride provide supplemental calcium to crop foliage, fruits, and vegetables to delay aging, reduce postharvest decay, improve firmness, and control the development of physiological disorders. For example:

• Pre-harvest sprays of calcium chloride can increase fruit size and improve quality while enhancing shelf life.
• Spraying calcium chloride several times throughout the growing season can prevent the development of bitter pit in apples after harvest.
• Calcium chloride sprays have been shown to increase pear yields and improve the quality of oranges.
• The growth, quality and shelf life of tomatoes are enhanced by the application of calcium chloride to plant soil and to foliage during the fruit growth stage.

Post-harvest, farmers treat fruits and vegetables with food-grade calcium chloride to help preserve freshness, maintain firmness, prevent certain diseases and decay, and improve nutritional value. Specifically:

• Post-harvest calcium chloride application can increase calcium content, having a beneficial effect on nutritional value and reducing storage decay in some fruits, such as apples.
• Post-harvest application extends the ripening time of peaches by as much as 30%, enhancing the commercial value of this highly perishable fruit.
• Dipping fruits and vegetables in calcium chloride after harvesting can enhance firmness and post-harvest shelf life.
• Calcium chloride applications are used to enhance the firmness of sliced fruits and vegetables such as cantaloupe and carrots.

Food Processing Applications

Treatment with food-grade calcium chloride helps extend the shelf life of a wide variety of food products while maintaining desirable texture and flavor properties, such as adding a salty taste to pickles and other foods without increasing sodium content. Calcium chloride:

• Increases firmness and extends shelf life when sprayed on fruits and vegetables.
• Enhances the levels of nutritional calcium when used to process frozen fruit and vegetables.
• Tenderizes meat.
• Reduces the oil consumption and darkening of french fries.
• Acts as a refrigerant in the manufacture of ice cream and frozen foods.

Refrigeration Applications

With a freeze point as low as -60°F, solutions made from calcium chloride are highly effective when used as a refrigerating brine in low-temperature applications. Used as a secondary coolant, the calcium chloride brine is contained in a closed loop, absorbing heat, and carrying it away to a heat exchanger where the heat is absorbed by a primary refrigerant. With heat removed, the chilled brine circulates back to absorb more heat and the cycle is repeated.

Calcium Chloride Brings Out the Best in Food

It’s easy for consumers to take for granted everything farmers and food processors do to make our food as enjoyable, flavorful, long-lasting, and nutritious as possible. As food producers know, much of it wouldn’t be possible without the unique characteristics of calcium chloride pellets and liquid solutions. 

Learn more about BRINERS CHOICE®, Food Grade Anhydrous pellets, and LIQUIDOW® Food Grade solution  or contact a distributor  today.