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It is used in various applications such as a preservative for seafood, meats, poultry and pet foods. It is also used in toothpaste and as a builder in soaps and detergents, improving their cleansing ability. The United States Food and Drug Administration lists STPP as "generally recognized as safe", along with salt, vinegar, and baking powder. Unfortunately for consumers, an excessive amount of STPP in food can cause an increase in price, for products sold by weight contain more water than products without STPP.
STPP is a solid inorganic compound used in a large variety of household cleaning products, mainly as a builder, but also in human foodstuffs, animal feeds, industrial cleaning processes and ceramics manufacture. STPP is widely used in regular and compact laundry detergents and automatic dishwashing detergents (in powder, liquid, gel and/or tablet form), toilet cleaners, surface cleaners, and coffee urn cleaners . It also provides a number of chemical functions including: sequestration of "water hardness", enabling surfactants to function effectively; pH buffering; dirt emulsification and prevention of deposition; hydrolysis of grease; and dissolving-dispersing dirt particles.
Food Applications
In foods, STPP is used to retain moisture. Many governments regulate the quantities allowed in foods, as it can substantially increase the sale weight of seafood in particular.
Many people find STPP to add an unpleasant taste to food, particularly delicate seafood. The taste tends to be slightly sharp and soapy and is particularly detectable in mild-tasting foods. The increased water holding properties can also lead to a more diluted flavor in the food.
Health effects
Toxicokinetics and acute toxicity
Polyphosphates are hydrolyzed into smaller units (orthophosphates) in the gut before absorption, which may induce a metabolic acidosis. The acute toxicity of polyphosphonates is low as the lowest LD50 after oral administration is > 1,000 mg/kg body weight.
Skin and eye irritation
Polyphosphates are moderately irritating to skin and mucous membrane because of their alkalinity.[1]
Mutagenicity and carcinogenecity
No mutagenic potential was observed when TTP was tested in a Salmonella/microsome assay (Ames test) and in a chromosomal aberration assay in vitro using a Chinese hamster fibroblast cell line (Ishidate et al. 1984). Tetrasodium pyrophosphate was not mutagenic in an in vitro assay using S. cerevisiae strains and S. typhimurium strains with and without the addition of mammalian metabolic activation preparations.
Reproductive toxicity
Sodium tripolyphosphate showed no maternal toxicity or teratogenic effects at dose levels up to 238 mg/kg body weight in mice and 40 mg/kg in rats. Reproduction studies in three generations of rats on diets with 0.5% TTP were performed. TTP had no effects on fertility or litter size, or on growth or survival on offspring. Tetrasodium diphosphate showed no maternal toxicity or teratogenic effects at dose levels up to 130 mg/kg body weight in mice and 238 mg/kg in rats.
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