E500 (Sodium carbonate) is a chemical compound, the sodium salt of carbonic acid.
Food
Ingredient included in the list of European food additives as E500 with a leavening function.
In the list of European food additives is specified as follows:
- E500 (i) Sodium carbonate
- E500 (ii) Sodium bicarbonate
- E500 (iii) Sodium Sesquicarbonate
Sodium carbonate has multiple uses in the industrial sector of building materials, food industry, chemical industry with daily chemicals, metallurgy, textiles, pharmaceuticals, medicine and other sectors.
In the manufacturing process of detergents and soaps it is used as a filler and to make the product smoother.
It is adjuvant in the production of chemical products such as sodium silicate, sodium bicarbonate and percarbonate, chromate and sodium dichromate.
The glass industry needs 0.2 tons of sodium carbonate per ton of glass because, in the glass manufacturing process it reduces the melting temperature of the sand used in glass formation and aids in the shaping and workability of glassware such as tableware, optical glass and float glass.
Sodium carbonate can reduce the corrosive effect of alkali dust on refractory materials and extend furnace life.
In the food industry it acts as a leavening, buffering and dough softening agent in baked goods and especially in cakes and pastries as well as in soy sauce, bread, amino acid production. When mixed with alkaline water and added to dough has the property of increasing elasticity and ductility. Sodium carbonate can also be used to produce MSG, Monosodium Glutamate.
In the pharmaceutical industry it is used as osmotic laxative and antacid. It is inserted into medicinal tablets as a filler, a substance used to increase the volume of the mass to be compressed to the desired volume.
In the metalworking industry, sodium carbonate is used for electrolytic coppering, electrolytic polishing of aluminum and alloys, chemical and electrochemical degreasing, chemical oxidation of aluminum, corrosion of aluminum, rust prevention between processes, electrolytic degradation, sealing after phosphating. It also serves for chromium plating and subsequent removal of chromium oxide film, copper pre-plating, steel plating and in the electrolyte plating of steel alloy.
In metallurgical industry, it is desulfurization agent in steel production and antimony smelting.
In the tanning industry it neutralizes chrome tanned leather, degreases leather, improves the alkalinity of chrome tanning bath.
Also used as a test to calibrate the acid in quantitative analysis, co-solvent analysis of silica in cement, glucose analysis in urine and blood, test for the determination of copper, lead, zinc, aluminum, sulfur. Metallographic analysis etc.
For the production of lactulose, it has proved to be effective by considerably reducing the production time (1).
It is used in the preparation and cooking of patties and hamburgers to improve their elasticity, hardness and cohesion (2).
It has been used as an efficient and inexpensive alkaline catalyst for pretreatment of corn straw and lignocellulosic biomass (3).
It is used to improve the tolerance of fruit (in this case pears) to frost damage (4).
It is an anti-inflammatory and is also used as a tooth-cleaning agent (5).
Safety
A 2024 study warns about the risk of developing cancer with high intakes of emulsifiers, (including E440, Pectin, E471 mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, carrageenan, E407, sodium carbonate E500) (6).
The most relevant studies on this ingredient have been selected with a summary of their contents:
Sodium carbonate studies
- Molecular Formula: CNa2O3
- Molecular Weight: 105.988 g/mol
- UNII: 45P3261C7T
- CAS: 497-19-8 7542-12-3 6106-20-3 1332-57-6 1314087-39-2 1977561-09-3
- EC Number: 207-838-8 231-420-4
- PubChem Substance ID 24899762
- Beilstein Registry Number 4154566
Synonyms:
- Disodium carbonate
- Carbonic acid sodium salt
- Sodium carbonate anhydrous
- Anhydrous soda
- CHEBI:29377
- Soda Ash
- Carbonic acid disodium salt
- Trona
- Soda Ash Light 4P
- Suprapur 6395
- Crystol carbonate
- Caswell N0 752
- Natriumkarbonat
- Bisodium carbonate
- Dynamar L 13890
- Soda
- Calcined soda
- sodiumcarbonate
- Sodium carbonate, anhydrous
- Washing soda
- Carbonic acid, disodium salt
- Solvay soda
- Soda, calcined
- Snowlite I
- Light Ash
- V Soda
References___________________________________
(1) Seo YH, Park GW, Han JI. Efficient lactulose production from cheese whey using sodium carbonate. Food Chem. 2015 Apr 15;173:1167-71. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.10.109.
(2) Parlak O, Zorba O, Kurt S. Modelling with response surface methodology of the effects of egg yolk, egg white and sodium carbonate on some textural properties of beef patties. J Food Sci Technol. 2014 Apr;51(4):780-4. doi: 10.1007/s13197-011-0552-4.
(3)Kim I, Rehman MS, Han JI. Enhanced glucose yield and structural characterization of corn stover by sodium carbonate pretreatment. Bioresour Technol. 2014;152:316-20. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2013.10.069.
(4) D'Aquino S, Barberis A, Continella A, La Malfa S, Gentile A, Schirra M. Individual and combined effects of postharvest dip treatments with water at 50 degrees C, soy lecithin and sodium carbonate on cold stored cactus pear fruits. Commun Agric Appl Biol Sci. 2012;77(3):207-17.
(5) Turker SB, Sener ID, Koçak A, Yilmaz S, Ozkan YK. Factors triggering the oral mucosal lesions by complete dentures. Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2010 Jul-Aug;51(1):100-4. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2009.09.001.
(6) Sellem, L., Srour, B., Javaux, G., Chazelas, E., Chassaing, B., Viennois, E., ... & Touvier, M. (2024). Food additive emulsifiers and cancer risk: Results from the French prospective NutriNet-Santé cohort. Plos Medicine, 21(2), e1004338.
Abstract. Emulsifiers are widely used food additives in industrially processed foods to improve texture and enhance shelf-life. Experimental research suggests deleterious effects of emulsifiers on the intestinal microbiota and the metabolome, leading to chronic inflammation and increasing susceptibility to carcinogenesis. However, human epidemiological evidence investigating their association with cancer is nonexistent. This study aimed to assess associations between food additive emulsifiers and cancer risk in a large population-based prospective cohort.
E500 
