The crowd of undergraduate students at yesterday’s midmorning Food Chemistry symposium perked up as Lihong (Lilly) D’Angelo, a manager of functional ingredients at Coca-Cola, spoke about the science of soda.
Coca-Cola was first served more than 115 years ago at a small pharmacy soda fountain in Atlanta. That’s why the Coca-Cola museum (officially called World of Coca-Cola Atlanta) is located here. Now people in more than 200 countries around the world recognize the brand name—although the product itself might be banana-flavored, depending on what country you are in.
Because natural and artificial sweeteners are main ingredients in soda, chemists at Coca-Cola study them extensively and create new ones, such as the noncommercial CC-100. They have developed a model that can predict the sweetness of a new molecule before synthesizing it. D’Angelo reported that the predictions are usually accurate.
In addition, she explained the basics of flavor chemistry, noting, for example, how chirality can mean the difference between spearmint and caraway flavors. Preparation techniques can alter flavors, too. For example, distilled lime tastes “spicy” and cold-pressed lime is “clean,” D’Angelo added, as she presented corresponding spectral analysis. Acid catalysis during distillation accounts for the difference, she said.
Other scientists contribute to the final soda product. For example, food technologists help develop product formulations. Analytical chemists do quality assurance tests for a consistent product. Microbiologists make sure the soda is safe to drink. Polymer chemists collaborate with engineers to design materials for bottles that won’t break during transport to consumers.
D’Angelo holds a Ph.D. in chemistry and an M.B.A. Her previous projects at Coca-Cola include developing new sweeteners. Currently, she works on chemistry to keep flavors stable in some of the other food products that Coca-Cola produces, such as Fanta and orange juice. And in her free time, she judges school science fairs and coaches tennis for Special Olympics.—Rachel Petkewich, filed at 6:34 AM EST
