The fate of sorbic acid in pearl millet and sorghum doughs on cooking and storage is reported. A solution of sorbic acid added to the cereal flours gave a dough, which was cooked to give the product ‘fura’. A significant amount (40%) of the sorbic acid was not recovered from the dough and fura on extraction with methanol. The use of acidified methanol leads to a quantitative recovery of that proportion of the preservative which otherwise becomes unavailable during the cooking of the dough and evidence is presented to suggest that sorbic acid‐thiol adducts are formed at that stage.