Soft drinks are enormously popular beverages consisting primarily of water, sugar, flavorings and carbon dioxide.

They are called soft as opposite to hard because hard usually describes an alcoholic beverage while soft drinks are non-alcoholic. Nearly 200 nations enjoy the sweet, sparkling soda with an annual consumption of more than 34 billion gallons. Flavored soda water gained popularity not only for the refreshing taste but also for the medicinal benefits as well. The market expanded in the 1830s when soda water was first sold in glass bottles. Filling and capping the gaseous liquid in container was a difficult process until 1850, when a filling and corking machine was successfully designed.

 Water

-Major ingredient in carbonated soft drinks

-Maybe present up to 92%

-Chemically treated
Sugar

-Contributes sweetness and calories

Carbon Dioxide

-Colorless and Odorless gas that provides the fizz for the beverages -Contributes acidic preservative action -Produces a tingling effect on the tongue

 Flavorings

-Synthetic flavor compounds

Color

-Synthetic colors -Caramel from burned sugar

Acids

-Acidification enhances beverage flavor -it includes phosphoric acid, citric acid (for fruit flavored soda)

The overall reaction for the formation of citric acid is:

C12H22O11 + H2O + 3O2

Sucrose

2C6H8O7 + 4H2O
Citric Acid

Additives

-Includes caffeine and sodium

Preservatives

-Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) -Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT)

 For water treatment

 For cleaning bottles

 For the preparation of Soft drinks

 Soft

drinks manufacturers adhere to strict water quality standard for allowable dissolved solids, alkalinity and chlorides. Not only is it in the interest of public health, but clean water also facilitates the production process and maintains consistency in flavor, color and body. Microbiological and other testing occur regularly. The National Soft Drink Association (NSDA) and other agencies set standards for regulating the quality of sugar and other ingredients. If soft drinks are produced with low-quality sugar, particles in the beverage will spoil it. To prevent such spoilage, sugar must be carefully handled in dry, sanitized environment.

 It is crucial for soft drink manufacturers

to inspect raw materials before they are mixed with other ingredients, because preservatives may not kill all bacteria. All tanks, pumps and containers are thoroughly sterilized and continuously monitored. Cans, made up of aluminum alloy or tin-coated low-carbon steel, are lacquered internally to seal the metal and prevent corrosion from contact with the beverage. Soft drink manufacturers also recommend specific storage conditions to retailers to ensure that the beverages do not spoil.

The shelf-life of soft drinks is generally at least one year.

 Presence of substitute inputs

There is not a lot of variety in inputs. The biggest substitute input was when the industry switched from aluminum cans and glass bottles to plastic bottles. This made the glass industry almost shake out completely. The nest big substitute input was for sugar. Since people were demanding more and more ways to lose weight and consume fewer calories, the diet soft drinks exploded in sales. This demand made the soft drink industry find an alternative to sugar to sweeten their product. This substance turned out to be NutraSweet non-sugar sweetener. This was found to reduce calories and retains the taste of their respective products. Other sweeteners like molasses do not work because they change the flavor of the product. Substitute inputs usually do not become important until the customers or market changes dramatically. This happens when new studies come out from the government about how harmful something is. This was the case when scientist came out with the study that stated that saccharin was harmful to rats. The industry has to respond by reducing its use of saccharin and look for a substitute. At this time, the industry found aspartame to be responsible substitute for saccharin, which was used more heavily in diet drinks.

 From soft drinks to future fuel

Students and professionals at Oklahoma State Universitys Robert M. Kerr, Food and Agricultural Products Center are exploring an innovative waste alternative for soda bottling facilities. Based on their study, since soda wastes contain carbohydrates, which have potential value for the production of ethanol, this represents a significant opportunity to reclaim value and reduced wastes. Soda bottling plants generate a large amount of liquid waste and they are paying to have their waste taken away. Those companies dispose their wastes in limited quantities, through a process of adjusting the pH of the soda waste to meet the regulations of neighboring water treatment plant. So, this project represents a great opportunity to turn a waste stream into a useful product. This particular waste stream has a lot of easily accessible sugar, so it only makes sense to turn sugar into something useful like ethanol.

 Environmental Issues

The soft drink industry currently had a little impact on the environment. One environmental issue of concern is that the use of plastics adversely affects the environment due to the unusually long time it takes to degrade. To combat this, the major competitors have lead in the recycling effort which starting with aluminum and now with plastics. The only other adverse environmental impact is the plastic straps that hold the cans together in 6-packs. These straps have been blamed for the deaths of fish and mammals in both fresh and salt water.

 Health Issues

Advantages -reduction of asthma attacks -treating constipation Disadvantages -weight gain/obesity -metabolic syndrome

-bones and teeth decay

-diabetes -cancer

-fin-