Food Ingredients · Choose a Material / Solution
Food Preservative Selector
Four inputs, one shortlist. The selector filters preservative families on the physical chemistry that actually governs them — undissociated-acid availability at your pH, and whether water activity even permits the organism you named. It does not prescribe a formulation and it never returns a use level.
This selector narrows the field by chemistry. It never states a use level and never states that a use is permitted. Permitted use is decided by Health Canada's List of Permitted Preservatives for your specific food, and by the equivalent list in any export market.
Describe the product
Four answers narrow the field. pH and water activity do most of the work.
Measure the finished product, not the water phase.
If it has never been measured, that is itself a finding.
Answer pH, water activity and the spoilage target to see the relevant options.
Use this when
- You have a target pH and need to know which preservative families are still active there.
- A preservative is being proposed to you and you want to sanity-check it against your pH band.
- You are shortlisting before a challenge test and want to test the right candidates.
How the output is produced
- Each family carries a published pKa. The selector scores it as active, weakening or largely inactive against the pH band you select.
- Water activity band filters the spoilage targets that are physically possible, so an irrelevant family is not returned.
- Product type applies a permitted-use reminder — never a permission. The Health Canada tables remain the authority.
What this page does not determine
- No use level, no dosage, no shelf-life prediction.
- No statement that a returned family is permitted in your specific food.
- No substitute for challenge testing in your own matrix.
Relevant Allzone products
These are catalogue identities relevant to this decision. A listing here is not a statement that the material is suitable for your product.
- Calcium PropionatePropionate preservative used against mould and rope in bakery.
- Potassium SorbateSorbate preservative used in acid foods, beverages and fillings.
- Sodium BenzoateBenzoate preservative used in low-pH beverages and dressings.
- Benzoic AcidUndissociated benzoic acid form of the same preservative family.
- Lactic AcidAcidulant and acidification aid used in dairy, brine and meat.
Where this comes from, and what it cannot tell you
Peer-reviewed weak-acid preservative literature (undissociated-acid theory; pKa of sorbic ≈ 4.76, benzoic ≈ 4.2, propionic ≈ 4.87)
Supports: That weak-acid preservatives act mainly in the undissociated form, so their activity falls sharply as pH rises above their pKa.
Limitation: pKa explains the direction of the effect only. It does not give a use level, and it does not guarantee inhibition of a given organism.
Scientific literature · Established physical chemistry.
Food-microbiology literature on water activity and pH limits for microbial growth (e.g. ICMSF / standard food-preservation texts)
Supports: That pH and water activity are the two dominant hurdles determining which spoilage organisms can grow, and therefore which preservative family is even relevant.
Limitation: Published growth limits are organism- and matrix-specific. They do not predict shelf life in a specific product.
Scientific literature · Established food-science consensus.
Health Canada — List of Permitted Preservatives (Food Additive Tables, Part 1 / Division 16 FDR)
Supports: Which preservatives are permitted in Canada, in which foods, and at what maximum level of use.
Limitation: Permission is food-specific. Presence on the list is not a statement that a given use in a given product is permitted, nor that it will be effective.
Canada · Consult the current published list before formulating; the tables are amended.
Codex Alimentarius — General Standard for Food Additives (CXS 192)
Supports: Internationally recognised food-category framework and maximum use levels for additives.
Limitation: Codex is not law in Canada. Where Codex and Health Canada differ, the Canadian list governs a Canadian product.
International · Revised annually.