STPP is a preservative for seafood, meats, poultry, and animal feeds. In foods, STPP is used as an emulsifier and to retain moisture. Other uses include ceramics , leather tanning setting retarders, flame retardants, paper, anticorrosion pigments, textiles, rubber manufacture, fermentation, antifreeze."[5] STPP is used as a polyanion crosslinker in polysaccharide based drug delivery.