Citric acid is a weak organic tricarboxylic acid found in citrus fruits. Citric acid is a natural preservative and food tartness enhancer.

it is one of the stronger edible acids, the dominant use of citric acid is as a flavoring and preservative in food and beverages, especially soft drinks and candies.Within the European Union it is denoted by E number E330. Citrate salts of various metals are used to deliver those minerals in a biologically available form in many dietary supplements. Citric acid has 247 kcal per 100 g.

Citric acid can be added to ice cream as an emulsifying agent to keep fats from separating, to caramel to prevent sucrose crystallization, or in recipes in place of fresh lemon juice. Citric acid is used with sodium bicarbonate in a wide range of effervescent formulae, both for ingestion (e.g., powders and tablets) and for personal care (e.g., bath salts, bath bombs, and cleaning of grease). It has use in culinary applications, as an alternative to vinegar or lemon juice, where a pure acid is needed. Citric acid can be used in food coloring to balance the pH level of a normally basic dye.

柠檬酸是一种存在于柑橘类水果中的弱有机三羧酸。柠檬酸是一种天然防腐剂和食品酸味增强剂。

它是一种较强的食用酸，柠檬酸的主要用途是作为食品和饮料中的调味剂和防腐剂，尤其是软饮料和糖果。在欧盟内，它由 E 编号 E330 表示。各种金属的柠檬酸盐用于在许多膳食补充剂中以生物可利用的形式提供这些矿物质。柠檬酸每 100 克含有 247 大卡热量。

柠檬酸可以作为乳化剂添加到冰淇淋中以防止脂肪分离，添加到焦糖中以防止蔗糖结晶，或在食谱中代替新鲜柠檬汁。柠檬酸与碳酸氢钠一起用于范围广泛的泡腾配方，用于摄入（例如粉末和片剂）和个人护理（例如浴盐、沐浴露和清洁油脂）。它可用于烹饪应用，作为醋或柠檬汁的替代品，需要纯酸。柠檬酸可用于食用色素以平衡通常为碱性染料的 pH 值。