[4] Potassium sorbate is effective in a variety of applications including food, wine, and personal-care products.

In addition, herbal dietary supplement products generally contain potassium sorbate, which acts to prevent mold and microbes and to increase shelf life.

Tube feeding of potassium sorbate reduces the gastric burden of pathogenic bacteria.

When active fermentation has ceased and the wine is racked for the final time after clearing, potassium sorbate renders any surviving yeast incapable of multiplying.

Some molds (notably some Trichoderma and Penicillium strains) and yeasts are able to detoxify sorbates by decarboxylation, producing piperylene (1,3-pentadiene).

[14] As a food additive, potassium sorbate is used as a preservative in concentrations of 0.025–0.100%,[15] which in a 100 g serving yields an intake of 25–100 mg.

[9][19] Under some conditions, particularly at high concentrations or when combined with nitrites, potassium sorbate has shown genotoxic activity in vitro.