You may already know benzoic acid as a chemical. Yes, this ingredient is commonly used as an industrial intermediate. But have you heard of its uses in food? How is it made? How many of its derivatives? Why it is less common in food than sodium benzoate? What’re the common uses besides in food? …You’ll find all these answers in this article (keep reading).

Benzoic acid (the European food additive number E210), is an aromatic carboxylic acid not commonly used for food preservation due to the slight solubility in water. It is usually produced to its soluble salts – widely used preservatives, sodium benzoate (E211) and potassium benzoate (E212, not common, to reduce the sodium intake).

http://www.chinafooding.com/Benzoic_Acid