to wonder why citric acid is in bloody EVERYTHING!

[PyongyangKipperbang]

Particularly drinks!

DD3 has been diagnosed with an allergy to citrus, and it is proving almost impossible to find things that dont have citric acid (that actual allergen) in! Finally tracked down acid free passatta in Holland and Barratt but drinks are proving really hard.

Even things that you wouldnt think like ginger ale have it in as an acidity regulator. It can be done without so I must assume that it must be that CA is the cheapest option?

She is getting really fed up and frankly so am I, not least because what we can find is eyewateringly expensive, she is a student and I am a carer on a low PT income.

I have a citrus and limonene allergy and I'm usually ok with citric preservatives. Has she reacted specifically to it or is it being avoided to be on the safe side?

Citric acid is a cheap, relatively safe preservative and possesses antioxidant properties, helps food maintain colour, etc.

Considering it’s naturally in tangerines, oranges, grapefruits, pineapples, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, and berries, cauliflower, you’re best bet is to look up what citric acid IS NOT in and go from there.

You can make a simple syrup using apples , water, and sugar on the hob.

Milk doesn’t have citric acid.

Again, citric acid is not the allergen component in citric fruit.
And the citric acid which is used as a food preservative is usually synthesised from various sugars, nothing whatsoever to do with citrus fruit.

There's some pretty gauche made up stuff in the thread, considering the actual science has been conveyed multiple times, plus others with citrus allergies have confirmed citrus acid is not an issue.
Come back OP and tell us what the GP advised...

Has she actually been told that citric acid is an allergen for her? How has it been identified?

https://www.aaaai.org/allergist-resources/ask-the-expert/answers/old-ask-the-experts/citric-acid-citrus-allergy

I found that one googling - seems to say they may be citrus acid intolerance but poor documentation for it - so do think the OP needs to ask more questions.

Though I also thought water, milk, tea, coffee home made smoothies and soda stream home made flavouring would be obvious way to just avoid - but I'm not drinking lots of commercial pop or squashes or fruit juice and some people do and that would make it harder if it actually does need to be avoided.

I have a bladder issue and when it was at its worst it was a nightmare finding things to eat without citrus. My husband used to make me homemade ketchup out of red pepper because tomatoes were too acidic. Would she eat pesto instead? Also easy to make at home. Otherwise I just had lots of plain food - potatoes, veg etc. Not too much packaged food because it all contains preservatives like citric acid xx

Yes to this.

MCA (manufactured citric acid) that is added as a preservative to so many foods and beverages can be made from fungi, some yeasts, and some bacteria. Aspergillus Niger is the source of most manufactured citric acid.

I'm no expert, so maybe someone in the field can verify (although I do have a biological degree).

Citric acid is in the citric acid cycle... (Krebs cycle)... it's how we make energy from glucose. So how can someone possibly be allergic to that?!

Maybe having a bit of a reaction, but an actual allergy???

Has the allergen been verified?

Cucumber water is nice. Of fruit tea with sparkling water. I’m on a UPF group and agree most Citric acid is made from mould.
Homemade kombucha is cheap.

Herbal tea.

I can't drink anything with citric acid in, it makes me ill. I'm fine with citrus fruit. It took me a few years to work it out but it's been 35+ years since I worked out it was citric acid. I'm limited to water, tea, juice and milk for soft drinks when I'm out. Alcohol free cocktails are sometimes good unless they've added some fizzy to it. Cartons of ribena used to be my go to drink until they added citric acid to that (drank some, was ill, read label, saw citric acid had been added 🥺). Sorry not to be of more help but I share your frustration.

I suspect OP has realised that she's jumped the gun a little bit in her worry about citric acid.

No she hasnt.

Her DD (who I say again is a student. An adult. Lives independently) has been told specifically that she is allergice to citrus fruit and citric acid. So the should not eat anything with citric acid in it or added to it. She saw the specialist herself and told me this. I do not know more than that but she came to me with the information from her doctor which said this, and asked for my help to find stuff she could have.

Tomatoes have a low enough level of citric acid that she can eat them but not in a tinned version with added CA. Again, this is from the official information she was given regarding her allergies.

What kind of "specialist" gave this diagnosis?

i think she’s really going to have to embrace cooking from scratch (I don’t have a citric acid allergy but others) and in an efficient way, otherwise life is just going to get expensive, so batch making some passata with fresh tomatoes and freezing them up into cubes type thing vs tins, for drinks, various teas, fruit infusions, I don’t think og cola has any in, I follow a woman on instagram with a whole heap of allergies including citric acid and she drinks cola, but she’s in South Africa so maybe not the same here?

You can make her flavored water with fruit or veg- both still or sparkling. But yes, citric acid is in pretty much everything as it’s cheap.

I have an allergy to citrus fruit.

Citric acid is NOT the same. I can have Citric acid. In fact, a Citric acid allergy would be a real problem - it is in every call of every animal and plant. So if you were allergic to it you would would allergic to ALL food (except possibly fungus, I dont know about those but I suspect they have it too). Anything that does respiration has Citric acid in it. If it's not on the ingredients its not an ADDITIVE but that doesn't mean the food doesn't contain that molecule.

Citric allergy is generally an allergy to a protein.

@PyongyangKipperbang I have a citric acid allergy. My sister spotted your post and messaged me! Yes it's in everything...
Is there anything specific you are looking for?
Very happy to help.😊

https://biona.co.uk/products/biona-organic-chopped-tomatoes
These are the tinned tomatoes we get starter for 10!

I get it'd be very annoying from a food perspective, as even if things can be made from scratch that takes time and often more money. So sympathies there.

But fizzy drinks and squash etc are hardly essential. I only drink water and tea/coffee as do lots of adults I know.

How does the allergy affect her? I ask because I have had a weird thing happen this week - drank a juice with lemon juice in it and violently sick after it. The only other time that has happened was when I was pregnant and had dried fruit one day at work and same thing happened and I was violently sick within minutes but then fine. As I was yesterday.

I get reflux a lot. I assumed it was wine or something. But often get it and flushed face after caffeine or Diet Coke.

Wondering if it is similar.

It’s really interesting. I have learnt something reading about his! So some people have citrus fruit allergies (actually the easier of the two) and some people are allergic to citric acid which is added in LOADS of things as a preservative. The additive is artificially made from a mould (related to black mould) and this is thought to be the problem for some people. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6097542/#tbl0005

I think you should ask your DD which one the doctor thinks she has. Do you know?

Just googled and realised I also had a random vomit episode after eating gummy sweets one evening late. I am not sick ever! This must be a thing.

Some organic tinned tomatoes don't have citric acid in them.

@PyongyangKipperbang Why does a grown adult need help reading labels? A student, no less