An Overview on the Effects of Sodium Benzoate as a Preservative in Food Products

Food spoilage has been a common problem throughout history, and much of the spoilage is caused the activity of microorganisms or enzymatic reactions during the storage of food. Thus, using chemical substances could prevent or delay food spoilage and this has led to the great success of these compounds in the treatment of human diseases. Sodium benzoate is one of the synthetic additives that are widely used in the food industry. In this review we summarized the history and role of benzoate sodium in the food industry, its limited value in different food, other uses, pharmacokinetics, and its toxicity in animal studies. A literature search was carried out using MEDLINE, Scopus, Science Direct, and Scientific Information Databases (SID). Sodium benzoate is used in different industries as well as the food industry and it has adverse effects similar to other food additives. Studies on natural ingredients in foods to find compounds with similar effects as benzoate with less adverse effects is necessary.