.
However, it was not until the development of a fermentation process in the 1920's that a huge increase in the uses for citric acid became possible. Some 50% of citric acid produced today is still consumed in the soft drinks industry, but many other food, pharmaceutical, technological and industrial applications have been developed. In 1989 world production of citric acid and its related salts, the citrates, stood at almost half a million tonnes, today production is approximately one million tonnes.