Is cooking with hydrogen peroxide an accepted practice?

Question

I had some pork (shoulder) I had to use today, suspecting it might be unsafe tomorrow.

So I thought I'd soak it in some hydrogen peroxide, about 2-3% concentration to at least get rid of any surface bacteria.

After about 10 minutes, the pork looked half-cooked and felt extremely pliable. I assume the proteins had denatured like in a ceviche. Stir-frying it quickly to finish it off took less than a minute and it was really tender.

Is cooking with hydrogen peroxide an accepted practice?

Asked by jontyc

Answer

The Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety offers the following information and advice:

Use of Hydrogen Peroxide in Food Processing

1. Because of its strong oxidising property, hydrogen peroxide is used as a bleaching agent in some foods such as wheat flour, edible oil, egg white etc. in countries like the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
2. It is also allowed to be used as an antimicrobial agent in food, e.g. milk, and as a sterilizing agent for food packaging materials.

and

Safety of Hydrogen Peroxide

1. Oral ingestion of 3% hydrogen peroxide solutions (household strength) generally does not result in severe toxicity but may result in vomiting, mild irritation to mucosa and burns in the mouth, throat, oesophagus and stomach. Ingestion of higher concentration, e.g. >10%, can result in more dangerous sequelae such as burns to mucus membranes and gut mucosa.
2. Hydrogen peroxide is unstable and would decompose in contact with food and after cooking.

and, finally,

Advice to the Trade

1. If hydrogen peroxide is used in processing food, only food grade hydrogen peroxide should be used in processing food.

2. The amount of hydrogen peroxide to be used in food processing should be limited to the amount sufficient for the purpose.

3. Appropriate measures should be taken to remove residual hydrogen peroxide from the finished products.

Based on this information, it seems there is some precedent for using hydrogen peroxide in a cooking environment.

Answered by Eli Lansey

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