Mucic acid

Mucic acid, also called galactaric acid, is a member of the organic acids formed as an oxidation product of galactose and galacturonic acid. It occurs particularly in grapes infected with Botrytis cinerea, the grey mold, and is found in wines made from such fruit, where it can complicate clarification by forming hazes. Food chemists encounter it in studies of pectin degradation, fruit spoilage chemistry, and the oxidative transformations of fruit products. It has no direct food use, but its presence serves as a marker of specific oxidative and microbial changes, and it is one of the dicarboxylic sugar acids used as reference compounds in carbohydrate analysis.