Sodium Benzoate is used in acidic foods and drinks and products to control bacteria, mold, yeasts, and other microbes as a food additive. It interferes with their ability to make energy. And used in medicine, tobacco, printing and dyeing.

Sodium benzoate is a preservative. It is bacteriostatic and fungistatic under acidic conditions. It is used most prevalently in acidic foods such as salad dressings (vinegar), carbonated drinks (carbonic acid), jams and fruit juices (citric acid), pickles (vinegar), and condiments. It is also found in alcohol-based mouthwash and silver polish. It can also be found in cough syrups like Robitussin. Sodium benzoate is declared on a product label as sodium benzoate. It is also used in fireworks as a fuel in whistle mix, a powder which emits a whistling noise when compressed into a tube and ignited.