If you look closely at the list of nutrients, then in many products you can see an ingredient such as ash. However, this does not mean at all that something like “soot from the fireplace” was “lost” in the food. The concept of “ash” has a broader meaning, especially when it comes to food.
What is food ash
Ash is all the inorganic components found in food. Why was this name chosen to define this concept? It’s simple: chemists determine the mineral composition of the product by burning. Counting ash in products can be important for several reasons. Ash is part of a rapid analysis to assess the nutrients in food. Ashing is the first step in determining the concentration of a particular chemical element in a product. When powdered products are heated to a temperature of 500 degrees Celsius, water and other volatile components are released as steam, and organic compounds are burned when exposed to oxygen. This is how ash appears. That is, theoretically, food ash is a mixture of substances remaining in the product after water and organic substances evaporate from it. Ash can include beneficial minerals like calcium or potassium, or it can contain toxic elements like mercury.
Most often, food ash consists of:
- potassium;
- sodium;
- calcium
- magnesium.
The mentioned elements, as a rule, are contained in the ash in the greatest quantities.
In addition to them, but already in lower concentrations, in the ash can be:
- aluminum;
- iron;
- copper;
- manganese;
- zinc;
- iodine;
- fluorine;
- arsenic;
- some other chemical elements.
But if ash is, in fact, the same minerals contained in a food product, then what is the difference between these concepts?
As chemists explain, the main difference is that the “Ash Content” parameter is an indicator of the total amount of all the minerals present in food. And “Mineral content” is the exact content of minerals individually.
The definition of both indicators is important for several reasons. It is easy to determine from them:
- food quality (the quality of many products depends on the concentration and type of minerals, they determine the taste, appearance, texture of food);
- microbiological stability (high mineralization sometimes prevents the propagation of certain harmful microorganisms);
- benefits from the product (some minerals are important for human health, while others, as toxic substances, can harm);
- processing (knowing the content of mineral substances is sometimes important in order to determine what type of processing is suitable for the product).
Researchers talk about two forms of ash:
- general, or crude (these are all mineral substances contained in the product, as well as those that got into it from the external environment);
- pure (mineral substances contained in the product without impurities).
Minerals obtained from the environment, as a rule, include particles of metallic iron, salts that have fallen into the product during processing. For objective reasons, the total ash content in products of the same type can fluctuate over a fairly wide range. Hydrochloric acid helps determine the exact indicator of clean ash. In laboratory conditions, a total ash is treated with an 10-percent solution of the substance; the reaction product will indicate pure ash.
Ash in food
Despite the fact that minerals represent only a small part of the product, they play an important role both from a physicochemical point of view and in terms of nutritional value.
The ash content of most fresh products rarely exceeds 5%. Pure oils and fats usually contain either very little ash or no ash at all. Meanwhile, in some other components of our daily menu, the ash indicator may exceed 10%. For example, meat products such as bacon or beef jerky may contain from 6 to 11,5% ash.
But the ash indicator can not be seen on all food products. Most often, in the list of nutrients, ash appears on packages of flour, starch, sugar. And since bran mineralization can sometimes be 20 times higher than this indicator in the kernels of grains, thanks to the “Ash” column it is easy to determine which part of the cereal was used to make the product. Thus, ash content is a key factor in determining the grade of a product.
By the way, once bakers considered cleaner flour that contains less ash. But today this opinion is refuted: wheat flour grown on soil rich in minerals can be clean, but with a high ash content.
If we talk about food of animal and vegetable origin, then vegetarian products are richer in minerals, which means that they also have more ash. In different parts of the plant, the concentration of minerals can also vary. Thus, as a rule, there is less ash in plant tubers than in stems or seeds. As for meat, there are more minerals in the product obtained from older animals. Meanwhile, it is important to understand that the more fat in the meat, the less minerals it contains. Hence the different ash content in different types of meat:
- lean pork – 2,7%;
- fatty pork – 1,6%;
- lean cow meat – 4,6%;
- fat cow meat – 3,8%.
But, perhaps, the highest content of minerals is found in seafood and algae, which is caused by the special composition of sea water. Hence the extremely high rates of ash.
Some misconceptions
Sometimes people who are especially careful about their diet pay attention to the pH (acidity) of food ash. In different products, depending on their mineral composition, the ash remaining after metabolism can be acidic, neutral or alkaline. It is acidic in animal products and grains, and alkaline in fruits and vegetables. There is an opinion that products containing alkali ash change the pH of the blood and destroy harmful cells, including those that cause cancer. Meanwhile, not all experts share this opinion. Many still insist that food can only change the pH of the urine, but not the blood, and if such a process actually took place, it would have a very dangerous effect on the organs.
Is ash harmful to pets
Some breeders believe that foods containing a lot of ash cause urolithiasis in cats and dogs. However, researchers from Canada have denied this view. They believe that, on the contrary, pets should not be restricted, as low-ash foods deprive animals of essential minerals such as calcium and manganese. Although at the same time, scientists agree: if urolithiasis has already occurred, then it is really better to control the percentage of ash in food. As a rule, most dry pet foods contain about 8% ash, wet – no more than 2%. Usually, its increased concentration is observed in feed from meat, poultry, and bones.
Ash is not at all one of the ingredients artificially added to food, and not the ashes from the fireplace left after burning wood. The “ash” on the food label is just a generalized indicator of minerals in food that has nothing to do with ash. So, do not be scared when you see ash on the label of your favorite product in the list of ingredients.