Food Extractions

No solvent residue. No health hazards.

 

Demand for safe foods has led to stringent government regulations on the use of organic solvents in the food processing industry.

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The need to replace toxic organic solvents with an environmentally benign, non-flammable, and inexpensive alternative has led to the rapid development of supercritical CO2 technology in the food industry. The supercritical CO2 process is cleaner, and the extracts obtained have a longer shelf life and better blending characteristics due to co-extraction of antioxidants and lipids.

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Previously, chlorinated solvents were used for extraction of hops and the decaffeination of coffee, resulting in residual toxic solvents remaining in the food products. Chlorinated solvents are now banned in the food industry, but other solvents are still in use today. For example, hexane is the solvent most commonly used for the extraction of oil from oilseeds.

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However, in the UK, the residual hexane content in food products must be less than 30 ppm for products like soya, and in oil from oilseeds, less than 1 ppm*. In Japan and Europe, even 30 ppm hexane in extracts is to be banned. A similar trend is observed in other applications using different organic solvents as well. As a result, organic solvent extraction processes are being phased out by many manufacturers.

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*https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudr/2009/32/annex/I/2020-12-31#