Jyoti Vidyapeeth senior

SECONDARY SCHOOL,bagar(raj.)
Jhunjhunu(Rajasthan)
(AFFLIATED TO C.B.S.E)

SESSION : 2019-2020
CHEMISTRY- INVESTIGATORY PROJECT
ON
Study of effect of Potassium Bisulphite as
a food preservative

Submitted to Submitted by
MR. ISLAM KHAN AMAN SAINI,
CLASS 12, JVP Class-12
“Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.”
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the project work titled“Study of
effect of Potassium bisulphite as a food preservative”
submitted by AMAN SAINI (class XIIth - PCM group) in
partial fulfilment of the credit for the chemistry project
evaluation from “JYOTI VIDYAPEETH SENIOR
SECONDARY SCHOOL,BAGAR” , is the bonafide work of
the student done under the guidance and supervision of
Mr.Islam Khan,Chemistry Teacher,JVPSSS during
session 2019-2020, as a project report.
NAME: Aman Saini SUBJECT:Chemistry

REGISTRATION NO. : CLASS:12th (PCM)

DATE: PLACE:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
 Our project can never begin without you, dear GOD.
Rather than saying “thank you” to you, you know that we
feel like saying ‘I love you’, to you, always.
We must say thanks to our parents who provided us
sufficient money and help in making of this project.
Mr. Islam Khan, you are the real foundation of the
project done by us. Thank you very much. Special thanks to
our Principal, our Manager and our chemistry teachers,
Mrs. Kiran Saini and Mr. Chiranjilal Saini who gave support
to us and library which provides all useful books related to
this project.
Next on our thank list are our friends, teachers who
really showered constructive feedbacks and suggestions
without which this project would not have been in present
form.

DECLARATION
We hereby declare that the project work entitled

“Study of effect of Potassium bisulphite as a food

preservative” submitted to the “JYOTI VIDYAPEETH

SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL,BAGAR”is a record of

original work done by us, except for quotations and

summaries which have been duly acknowledged,

under the guidance of "Mr. Islam khan, Chemistry

Teacher,JYPSSS ". The project has not been accepted

for any credits based on investigatory projects

previously.

INDEX
SR. PAGE
NO. TOPIC NO.
1 OBJECTIVE 1
2 INTRODUCTION 2
3 AIM 4
 4 APPARATUS REQUIRED 5

5 MATERIALS & CHEMICALS 6

6 THEORY 7
7 PROCEDURE 8

8 EFFECT OF CONCENTRATION OF SUGAR 9

9 EFFECT OF CONCENTRATION OF KHSO3 10

10 EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE 11
11 EFFECT OF TIME 12

12 RESULTS,CONCLUSIONS&SUGGESTIONS 13

13 BIBLIOGRAPHY 14

14 NOTES 14

OBJECTIVE
The objective of this project is to study
the effect of Potassium bisulphite as a food
preservative under various conditions.
 INTRODUCTION
Growth of microorganisms in a food material can be inhibited by adding
certain chemical substances. However the chemical substances should not be
harmful to human beings. Such chemical substances which are added to
food materials to prevent their spoilage are known as chemical
preservatives. In our country, two chemical preservatives which are
permitted for use are:

1. Benzoic acid(or sodium benzoate)

2. Sulphur dioxide(or potassium bisulphite)

Benzoic acid or its sodium salt, sodium benzoate is commonly used for the
preservation of food materials. For the preservation of fruits, fruit juices,
squashes and jams sodium benzoate is used as preservative because it
is soluble in water and hence easily mixes with the food product.

Potassium bisulphiteis used for the preservation of colourless food

materials such as fruit juices, squashes, apple and raw mango chutney.
This is not used for preserving coloured food materials because
Sulphur dioxide produced from this chemical is a bleaching agent.
Potassium bisulphite on reaction with acid of the juice liberates Sulphur
dioxide which is very effective in killing the harmful micro-organisms
present in food stuffs and thus prevents it from getting spoilt.

HSO3–(aq) + H+(aq) H2O(l) + SO2(g)

The advantage of this method is that no harmful chemical is left in the
food. The Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives reports
that this product works to prevent the growth of mould, yeast
and bacteria in foods. It is also an additive for homemade wine.
Potassium bisulphite is found in some cold drinks and fruit juice
concentrates. Sulphites are common preservatives in smoked or processed
meats and dried fruits. In spray form, it may help prevent foods from
discolouring or browning.

AIM
 The aim of this project is to study the
effect of potassium bisulphite as food
preservative.
i. At different temperatures.
ii. At different concentrations and
iii. For different intervals of time.

APPARATUS
MATERIALS AND
CHEMICALS
 THEORY
Food materials undergo natural changes due
to temperature, time and enzymatic action
and become unfit for consumption. These
changes may be checked by adding small
amounts of potassium bisulphite. The
effectiveness of KHSO3 as preservative
depends upon its concentration under different
conditions which may be determined
experimentally. An ideal method of food
preservation has the following characteristics:
#1.It improves shelf-life and safety by
inactivating spoilage and pathogenic
microorganisms,
#2.It does not change organoleptic (smell, taste,
colour, texture, etc.) and nutritional attributes,
#3.It does not leave residues,
#4.It is cheapand convenient to apply and
#5.It encounters no objection from consumers
and legislators.

PROCEDURE:

1. Take fresh fruits, wash them

thoroughly with water and peel off
their outer cover.
2. Grind it to a paste in the mortar with
a pestle.
3. Mix with sugar and colouring matter.

4. The material so obtained is fruit jam.

It may be used to study the

effect of concentration of sugar
and KHSO3, temperature and time.

(A)Effect of concentration of Sugar: -

1. Take three wide mouthed reagent bottles labeled
as I II III.Put 100 gms of fruit jam in each bottle.
2. Add 5.0 gms, 10.0 gms and 15.0 gms of sugar to
bottle No. I, II and III respectively.
3. Add 0.5 gm of KHSO3 to each bottle.
4. Mix contents thoroughly with a stirring rod.
5. Close the bottle and allow them to stand for one
week or 10 days at room temperature.
6. Observe the changes taking place in Jam every day.
RECORD:

Result: The increase in concentration of sugar

causesfast decaying

(B)Effect of concentration of KHSO3 :–

1. Put 100 gm of Jam in each bottle.
2. Add 5.0 gm of sugar to each bottle.
3. Take bottles labeled as I, II, III.
4. Add 1.0 gm, 2.0 gm and 3.0 gm of KHSO3 to bottle
No. I, II and III respectively.

Bottle Wt. of Wt. of Wt. of Observations (Days)

Bottle
No. jamWt. of
taken Wt. of
sugar Wt. of
KHSO Observations (Days)
3
No. jam taken
added sugar KHSO3 1 2 3 4 5
added

I 100 gms 5.00 gms 0.5gm NO NO NO Few Few

Change Change Change Change More
Change

II 100 gms 10.00 gms 0.5 gm NO NO Few Some Few

Change Change Change Change more
Change

III 100 gms 15.00 gms 0.5 gm NO Few Few Some More
Change Change Change Change Change

5. Mix the contents thoroughly with a glass rod.

6. Keep all the bottles at room temperature for about
10 days and observe the changes everyday.

RECORD:
 1 2 3 4 5

I 100 gms 5.00 gms 1.0gm no no no few some

II 100 gms 5.00 gms 2.0gm no no no no few

III 100 gms 5.00 gms 3.0gm no no no no no

Result: The increase in concentration of KHSO3

increase more time of preservation

(C)Effect of temperature: –
1. Take 100 gm of Jam in three bottles lebelled as I,
II and III.
2. Add 10.0 gm of sugar and 2.0 gm of KHSO3 to
bottle No. I, II and III respectively.
3. Mix the contents thoroughly with a stirring rod.
4. Keep bottle No. I in the refrigerator at 0˚C, bottle
No. II at room temperature (25˚C) and bottle No.
III in a thermostat at 50˚C. Observe the changes
taking place in the jam for 10 days.
RECORD:
Result: The increase in temperature causes
faster fermentation of jam.

(D)Effect of time: –
1. Take three bottles and label them as I, II and III.
2. To each bottle add 25 g of Jam and 1 g of
potassium bisulphite.
Observations(Days)
Bottle Wt. of
Bottle No. Wt. of Wt. of Observations (Days)
No. jam sugar KHSO3
taken
added 1 2 3 4 5

I 100 gms 10.00 2.0gm No No No No No

gms change Chang change change change
e
II 100 gms 10.00 2.0gm No No No No Slight
gms change Chang change change change
e
III 100 gms 10.00 2.0gm No No Slight Some Some
gms change Chang change change more
e change
3. Keep bottle I for 7 days, bottle II for 14 days and
bottle III for 21 days at room temperature.
4. Note the changes taking place in each bottle and
record the observations.
 7 14 21
I No ****** ******

II No Taste ******
changes

III No No Unpleasant smell

develops

RECORD:

Result: With increase of days, the quality of the

jam deteriorates.

RESULTS,CONCLUSIONS AND
SUGGESTIONS
From the experiment, we can conclude that
KHSO3 acts as a viable food preservative whose
increased concentration can increase time for
preservation. But increase in concentration of
sugar content in the food material causes fast
decaying. Also, the experiment shows that rate
of fermentation of food stuffs is directly
proportional to temperature conditions. On
passage of time, even in the presence of
KHSO3,the food gets spoiled. Though potassium
bisulphite is a good food preservative (class II
preservative), it can trigger lung irritation and
asthma. So, our suggestion is that the usage of
food preservatives must be reduced to the
extent possible.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Reference books:
 NCERT CLASS 12 CHEMISTRY BOOKS-
PART I, II
 EVERGREEN LABORATORY MANUAL -
CLASS 12 CHEMISTRY
Reference websites:
 www.google.co.in
 en.wikipedia.org
 www.ncert.nic.in
 www.livestrong.com