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ACIDULANT

Adipic acid

What it is

Food acids for tartness and pH control in dry mixes, gelatin desserts and beverages.

Why your biology objects

Succinic acid is a Krebs-cycle intermediate your mitochondria make every second — genuinely benign. Adipic acid is the outlier: it barely exists in nature and is made petrochemically, the same feedstock as nylon. Benign at food doses, but a pure industrial tell — tartness tuned in a plant, not a kitchen.

Would your ancestors eat this?

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