| Appearance | White Crystalline powder, columnar or global granular |
| Identification | Positive |
| Assay | 99.0~100.5% |
| Loss on drying | ≤1.50% |
| Sulphate | None |
| Chloride | ≤0.02% |
| Chloride compound | ≤0.03% |
| Heavy Metals (as Pb) | ≤0.001% |
| Arsenic | ≤0.0002% |
| Mercury | ≤0.0001% |
| Volatility | Up to the requirement |
| Acidity and alkalinity | ≤0.20mL/g |
| Clarity of Solution | Clear and colorless |
| Water Solubility | 600 g/l (ref temperature 20 °C ) |
| Benzene | ≤0.010% |
| Chloroform | ≤0.005% |
| 1, 4-Dioxane | ≤0.010% |
| Methylene Chloride | ≤0.050% |
| Trichloroethylene | ≤0.010% |
Sodium benzoate is a preservative. It is bacteriostatic and fungistatic under acidic conditions. It is used most prevalently in acidic foods such as salad dressings (vinegar), carbonated drinks (carbonic acid), jams and fruit juices (citric acid), pickles (vinegar), and condiments. It is also found in alcohol-based mouthwash and silver polish. It can also be found in cough syrups like Robitussin. [1] Sodium benzoate is declared on a product label as 'sodium benzoate' or E211.It is also used in fireworks as a fuel in whistle mix, a powder which imparts a whistling noise when compressed into a tube and ignited.s
