What is isopropanol ? it is listed as an ingredient on bottles of food flavouring, is it safe ?

Question

I want to use the flavouring for cakes etc, I thought isopropanol was a kind of 'chemical alcohol' ! ?

It is clearly listed as the second ingredient on all bottles of 'Supercook' food flavourings (UK).

Answer 1

Isopropanol is another word of isopropal alcohol, which is actually a toxic substrance. It is used to sterilize wounds and it is also used in semiconductor fabs to clean component contacts. Do not put this in your food!!

Answer 2

Hi!
Isopropanol is another way of saying Isopropal Alcohol. In 5% concentration, it's commonly called "rubbing alcohol."
My advice is don't worry that it's used as a solvent in your flavorings. Every trace of it will evaporate during cooking.

In the old days, ethanol (grain alcohol) was the chemical solvent of choice for foods. Then during Prohibition desperate alcoholics took to drinking vanilla extract, etc. The Feds forced the change to isopropanol because of intense lobbying by The Women's Christian Temperance Union. After Prohibition, heavy taxation on ethanol prevented the food industry from returning to previous tradition. Imagine how much a bottle of genuine vanilla extract would cost if it was sold as liquor and taxed as such!

Answer 3

I think that is vanilla flavouring.
The main industrial process to produce vanilla (synthetic) use Isopropanol as final solvent.
However it should be in traces.
Pharmaceutically isopropanol should be less than 2000 ppm (or less than 0.2%) from FDA

Isopropanol has a lower boiling point than water (80°C) so you can always add some water and heat your flavouring to displace the isopropanol.

Answer 4

Yes !!! it is a kind of 'chemical alcohol'.
Propanol, or more correctly propan-1-ol is a straight chain of 3 carbon atoms with the Hydroxy(-OH) group on one of the end carbons.
It can sometimes be written as ' n-propan-1-ol'. The 'n' meaning 'normal'.
However, 'isopropanol' is a branched chain alcohol, sometimes written as 'i-propanol'.
It contains 3 carbon atoms as before, but they are arranged differently in space- it is a isomer, CH3CH(CH3)OH. Using the modern chemical nomenclature it is named as propan-2-ol.
It is frequently used as a solvent for flavenoids, as it is liquid at room temperature and not too volatile.
The very fact that it is used for flavourings means it is not poisonous.

Answer 5

Isopropanol, Isopropyl alcohol, IPA is usually called rubbing alcohol.

Probably used to preserve the food coloring. Its probably a small amount that will evaporate when cooked/baked.

Answer 6

In the U.S., food ingredients are regulated by the FDA. So I did a search of the FDA website to see what I could find. I typed this into Google:

isopropanol site:fda.gov

And found this page from the Code of Federal Regulations:

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=176.210

It looks like this is an ingredient used in paper and paperboard packaging that comes in contact with food, not an ingredient in the food itself.

I broadened my search to include all government sites, not just the FDA, and typed this into Google:

isopropanol site:gov

I found this page from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment:

http://www.oehha.ca.gov/air/chronic_rels/pdf/67630.pdf

I also found this page from a Medical Encyclopedia, from the National Institutes of Health:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002660.htm

Answer 7

It is a form of alcohol. I am fairly suprised that it is in a food ingredient as it is generally understood to be poisonous. Perhaps it is in such small quantities that it does not matter?

Answer 8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isopropanol

Answer 9

It is NOT safe to consume. Trust me, I have a masters in biochemistry.

Answer 10

It turns to acetone(poison) in the liver.

What kind of flavoring are you reading this from??!