Sodium Lactate is a colorless or almost colorless transparent liquid that dissolves in water, ethanol and glycerin. It is used in food preservation, moisturizing, aroma enhancement and pharmaceutical raw materials. It can also be used as medicine to relieve acidosis caused by diarrhea, dehydration, diabetes, nephritis and other diseases. Also used as condiment, plasticizer of casein plastic, antifreeze, moisturizing agent, substitute for glycerin, corrosion inhibitor for alcohol antifreeze.

Item	Unit	Standard value
Molecular weight	G/mol	112.1
Sodium lactate	%wt	60-70
Sodium	%wt	12.1-12.6
Stereochemical purity	%L(+)	≥97%
Density(@20°C)	G/ml	1.32-1.34
Chroma( fresh solution)	APHA	≤30
Ph ( fresh solution)	-	6.5-7.5
Odor	-	almost odorless
Taste	-	mild sourness
Heavy metals(as Pb)	ppm	≤10
Fe	ppm	≤10
Ca	ppm	≤10
Chloride	ppm	≤50
Sulfate	ppm	≤10
Cyanide	ppm	≤0.5
Pb	ppm	≤2
Hg	ppm	≤1
Reducing substances (sugar)	-	pass USP inspection
Citric acid/oxalic acid /tartaric acid /phosphoric acid	-	pass USP inspection
Methanol/methyl ester	ppm	≤250

As a food preservative, flavoring agent, antifreeze, moisturizing agent, etc., sodium lactate has been partially used in foreign countries to replace sodium benzoate as a preservative in the food industry.
Sodium lactate has incomparable advantages over sodium benzoate, sodium citrate, and sodium sorbate. Especially in meat products, it has the following significant effects:
1. Extend shelf life: can be extended by 30% to 100%, or even longer;
2. Inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria in food such as: HT Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Clostridium botulinum, etc., thereby increasing food safety;
3. Enhance and maintain the flavor of meat;
4. As a kind of salt, it can not only reduce the amount of sodium chloride, but also sodium lactate is safer for patients with low-salt heart disease, hypertension and kidney disease.