Gellan gum

Gellan Gum is a polysaccharide manufactured through fermentation from corn and various other crops. Through fermentation cells convert nutrients into large molecules. Powder gellan gum is made by filtering and drying the fermented mixture.

Gellan gum is obtained from the aerobic fermentation of glucose by the Sphingomonas elodea bacteria, formerly known as Pseudomonas elodea. This species was first isolated from the Elodea plant by food researchers in the 1970s.

Gellan gum was firstly discovered by U.S. scientists in 1978, and then was reported by Kang, Veeder, and Kaneko (1982) to be successfully produced from Pseudomonas species on a laboratory scale.

At first, they thought it could be used as a gelling agent similar to agar, that is used as a thickening ingredient in foods. Researchers realized that gellan gum had two added benefits over other similar products: It could be used in very small amounts but still produce the same texturizing results, and it wasn’t very sensitive to heat. Gellan gum’s properties make it ideal for use as a thickener, suspension agent and stabilizer in many popular food and beverage products.

Gellan gum was first approved for use in food in 1988. It received full food approval in the U.S Food and Drug Administration in 1992.

The gellan gum has been broadly used in biomedical applications since the FDA approval for its biocompatibility and low cytotoxicity.

Japan first approved gellan gum for food use in 1988. Subsequently, the United States, Canada, China, Korea, the European Union as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) and many other countries have reviewed gellan gum and approved it as a safe food additive.

It is currently being manufactured under patent in two different forms: Kelcogel and Gelrite.The former is used as a thickener and gelling agent, and the latter is used as a solidifying agent, replacing agar in media for microbial growth.
Gellan gum

History of xanthan gum

Xanthan gum a polysaccharide synthesized by bacteria, is a hydrocolloid that stabilizes and thickens foods produced by the microorganism Xanthomonas campestris and consists of glucose, mannose and glucuronic acid.

Xanthan gum stabilizes foods, helping certain foods withstand different temperatures and pH levels. Additionally, it prevents foods from separating and allows them to flow smoothly out of their containers.

Xanthan gum was discovered by American carbohydrate chemist, Allene Rosalind Jeanes and her research team in 1960s at the United States Department of Agriculture and was commercialized in 1970s. Xanthan gum was first marketed under the name Kelzan, an industrial-grade version of the product.

Xanthan gum first received U.S Food and Drug Administration full food additive approval in 1969. Kelco (now CP Kelco) petitioned xanthan gum to be added to the food additive list. The approval was based on a full safety assessment by the US FDA.

Approved by the FDA in 1968, xanthan gum is widely used as a food thickener, stabilizer, and emulsifier in products such as toothpaste, egg substitutes, ice cream, and some gluten-free foods.

Xanthan gum is accepted as a safe food additive in the USA, Canada, European countries, and many other countries, with E number E415, and CAS number 11138-66-2.
History of xanthan gum

History of Food Additive

History of Food Additive
Before the Civil War, people raised most of what they ate and processed it themselves and food additives were limited mostly to home grown colorings and substances needed for preservation in storage vegetable and fruit juices, salt, spices, smoke.

Our system of food supply changed after the Civil War. Thousands of rural people flocked to the cities to work in factories, they now needed food grown and preserved by someone else. Manufacturers of food products sprang up almost everywhere.

Food purity as such was not a major consideration. Cheap and handy methods of preserving foods were important to profits and scientific knowledge of food chemistry was practically nonexistent.

Dangerous adulteration of foods was commonplace. Chemicals to keep products looking good until they reached the consumer or just to hide the small and look of spoilage were used without much restraint.

The problem of food additives became acute. Supplying the rapid growing urban population required constantly expanding facilities and speed of production took precedence over both quaintly and safety.

For example, copper sulphate, a powerful emetic also known as blue vitriol, was added to canned vegetables to give them that fresh, green look; and salicylic acid, borax and formaldehyde were used generously - and carelessly.

Food and drug protection became an operating function of the Federal Government under the strong leadership of one man. Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, chief chemist for the US Department of Agriculture in Washington DC, announced publicly that the American people were being steadily poisoned by the dangerous chemicals that were being added to food with reckless abandon.

To dramatize the problem and to learn more about the reactions of the human body to ingestion of these chemicals, he formed , in 1902, what became known as “Dr. Wiley’s Poison squad.” Twelve young healthy men, recruited from the Department of Agriculture, pledge to eat nothing except what Dr. Wiley prescribed.

Over a period five years, Poison Squad members were fed measured doses of many kinds of commonly –used food additives. Dr. Wiley was not only concerned about determining the affects of these additives he was also interested in stirring up the public about the need for a pure food law.

The efforts of Dr, Wiley and the publication of the book The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, which told of the fifth accompanying the production of meat and meat products, were powerful, moving forces that helped persuade Congress to pass the Food and Drug Act 1906 as well as the Meat Inspection Act of the same year.

In 1927, the Food, Drug and Insecticide Administration, later to be named the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was created.
History of Food Additive
Further reading: Food Additive

Modern History of Food Additives

Modern History of Food Additives
As with many other elements used in food processing , additives originate very early in human history. For example, people learned in prehistoric terms that adding salt to meat would preserve it.

Likewise, smoke, which also acts as a preservative, might be considered an early food additive.

Over time, additives have come to thoroughly influence our eating habits, our taste preferences, and our socio cultural development.

The earliest legislation controlling the use of food additives took place in Britain in the 19th century, following the work of Frederick Accum, though its original impetus was the prevention of food adulteration.

In the United States the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees the regulation of ingredients that can be added to food.

It was not until 1958 that legislation was adopted requiring food and chemical manufacturers to test their additives before they were submitted to the FDA.

Before that lawn the FDA itself was responsible for testing the submitted additives. Thereafter, Congress established a Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) list.

This list recognized that many substances that had been added to food for a long time were commonly seen as safe by qualified scientists, which exempted them from premarket clearance.

This list was revised in 1969 and as of 1980 contained 415 substances that were originally included in the 1958 project.

Today, manufacturers were responsibility for demonstrating their GRAS status and providing evidence (such as scientific literature) to support it. Approximately 100 new substances are presented to the FDA for GRAS certification very year.
Modern History of Food Additives