Ferrous gluconate is mainly used as a nutritional fortifier in the food industry and is widely applied in various food categories. The specific application status is as follows:
Application in dairy products: Ferrous gluconate is often added to dairy products such as infant formula milk powder and milk. Its good water solubility allows it to disperse uniformly in dairy products, effectively increasing the iron content of the products to meet the iron needs of special groups such as infants and pregnant women, with little impact on the taste and flavor of dairy products.
Application in cereal products: It can be added to cereal products such as bread, cereal, and biscuits. In bread making, it can supplement iron to the product without affecting dough fermentation and baking results. Adding it to cereal helps maintain the nutritional balance of the product, making it suitable as a breakfast food to provide consumers with iron nutrition.
Application in beverages: Ferrous gluconate is also added to drinks such as fruit juices and milk beverages. For example, in some functional fruit juice drinks, adding ferrous gluconate can enhance the nutritional value of the beverage, meet consumers' demand for healthy drinks, and at the same time, it does not produce obvious peculiar smells and has little impact on the taste of the beverage.
Application in pickled vegetables: According to China's Hygienic Standards for the Use of Food Nutritional Fortifiers, ferrous gluconate can be used as a color-protecting agent in pickled vegetables (limited to olives) with a maximum usage amount of 0.15g/kg, which can maintain the color and texture of olives during canning.
Application in nutritional health products: Ferrous gluconate is also commonly used in health products such as nutrition bars and nutritional supplements. Due to its high bioavailability, it can effectively supplement iron for the human body, especially suitable for people with iron deficiency anemia and those with high iron needs, such as pregnant women, children, and the elderly.
However, ferrous gluconate also has some limitations. For example, it may cause changes in food color and flavor, which restricts its application to a certain extent. Therefore, when used in the food industry, it is necessary to reasonably control its addition amount and usage conditions according to the characteristics of specific foods, so as to give full play to its nutritional fortification role while minimizing adverse effects on food quality.
