Enhanced TDS
Knowde-enriched technical product data sheet
Identification & Functionality
- Ingredient Name
- Food Ingredients Functions
- Ingredients
- Arabica Gum
- Food Additive Number
- E 414, INS 414
- Technologies
- Product Families
- Sources
The dried, gummy exudate from the stems or branches of the Acacia Senegal or related species of Acacia.
Features & Benefits
- Labeling Claims
- Food Ingredients Features
- Product Properties
Colony Gums sets strict standards for color and impurities on
every batch purchased. After approval, the exudates is cracked
or pulverized. Sifting, aspiration, and density-table separation are
used during this process to remove sand and bark and produce
the cleanest possible gum. In producing spray-dried gum, the
gum solution is clarified by centrifugation, filtered, pasteurized in
the case of enzyme-inactivated gum, and then spray dried. The
dried powder is screened to assure uniformity of particle size.- Physical
Gum Arabic tears, crystals, granules and powders are almost
odorless and tasteless. The color ranges from white to yellowish
white. The lighter the color, the better the quality of the gum.- Solubility
The most unusual property of Arabic among the natural gums is
its extreme and true solubility in cold or hot water. Aqueous
solutions of over 50% concentrations may be prepared.
Solubility of Arabic decreases as the proportions of alcohol to
water increase, becoming practically zero in 60% alcohol. Arabic
is insoluble in most other organic solvents. Good grades of
Arabic produce almost colorless and tasteless solutions.- Viscosity
Most gums form very viscous sols or gels at 1–5% concentration. Gum
Arabic solution viscosities are much lower and the gum is not used for
swelling or high thickening purposes. Its viscosity increases slowly up
to 25% concentration and exhibits Newtonian behavior. Above 25%
gum concentration, the viscosity increases rapidly with increasing gum.
A 30% solution is about 100 cps. At 40% and higher, Arabic is
pseudo-plastic, as denoted by a decrease in viscosity with increasing
shearing stress. Increasing temperature decreases the relative
viscosity and density of Arabic solutions. Small amounts of some
electrolytes reduce viscosity. Solutions of Gum Arabic are slightly
acidic at pH 4–5. Maximum viscosity occurs between pH 4.6–7.- Chemical Characteristics
Gum Arabic is a complex calcium, magnesium and potassium salt of
Arabic acid. It has a main backbone chain of (1è3)-linked
D-galactopyranose units, some of which are substituted at the C-6
position with various side-chains. The side-chains consist of
D-galactopyranose, D-arabofuranose with additional side-chains on
the D-galactopyranose of L-rhamnopyranose. The molecular weight is
of the order of 250,000.
Applications & Uses
- Markets
- Applications
- Food & Nutrition Applications
- Uses
- Food
- Pharmaceutical
- Cosmetics
- Lithography
- Inks
- Textiles
The main uses of Arabic are based upon its properties of emulsification,
protective action, adhesiveness, thickening, binding, and stabilization. Its
major use is in the food industry to impart viscosity, body and texture to a
variety of foods. In addition, it is non-toxic, odorless, colorless, tasteless, and
completely water-soluble. It does not affect the flavor, odor of color of foods.
Foods
Arabic prevents sugar crystallization in jujubes and pastilles where sugar
content is high and the water is low. In caramels and toffees it prevents
the fat from surfacing and forming and easily oxidizable, greasy film. It is
also used as a glaze in candy products.
In bakery products, Arabic is used as an adhesive in glaze and toppings.
It imparts smoothness and stability to baker’s citrus oil emulsions.
The beverage industry utilizes Arabic in many different flavor emulsions.
Beer and some soft drink foams are stabilized with very small amounts
of Gum Arabic. When used as a flavor fixative, Arabic’s superior
film-forming ability makes it ideal for protecting the flavor from oxidation,
evaporation and absorption of moisture from the air.
Pharmaceutical
About 5% of all Gum Arabic imports are used for pharmaceutical
purposes. Its suspending and stabilizing properties are employed to
suspend insoluble drugs and to prevent the precipitation of heavy
metals. Its emulsifying property is used for calamine, magnesia, and
kaolin suspension, and liquid petrolatum and cod liver oil emulsions.Arabic’s demulcent or soothing characteristics are utilized in many
pharmaceutical syrups and cough drops. It is also used in many
non-sugar syrups. Arabic is also used as an adhesive and binder for
pharmaceutical tablets as well as in their coating.
Cosmetics
In lotions or protective creams Arabic stabilizes emulsions, assists in
imparting spreading properties, adds a smooth feel to the skin, and
forms a protective coating. It binds the ingredients in compact cakes
and rouges.
Lithography
Gum Arabic has many functions as a sensitizer for lithographic plates,
an element in the light-sensitive composition, an ingredient of the
fountain solution used to set plates during printing and as a protector
during storage of the plate. Low viscosity grades of Arabic should be
used for deep-etch coatings to ensure uniform flow over the plate
surface and to avoid streaks.
Inks
Arabic is used in many special purpose inks because of its excellent
protective colloidal properties. Ink sticks, still in use after 3,000 years,
use Arabic as a suspending agent and protective colloid for
lampblack. Easily soluble inks are used to mark cloth for cutting and
sewing operations. Watercolor inks use Arabic to suspend the
pigments. In quick drying inks, Arabic is used in both water and
water-alcohol bases. The emulsifying and viscosity properties ofArabic are utilized in fabric and laundry marking inks, pigmented
white and bronze inks, emulsion or typographic inks, hectograph
inks, gloss-finish inks, electrically conductive inks, and wood grain inks.
Textiles
Arabic gives body in finishing silk and rayon fabric without loss of
transparency. It is also an efficient sizing agent for other fabrics,
but it also has been replaced by other colloids for the most part.
Technical Details & Test Data
- Compatibility
Arabic is compatible with other plant hydrocolloids, proteins,
carbohydrates, and starches. It produces stable emulsions with most
oils over a wide pH range. Many salts, particularly trivalent metal salts,
give precipitates or heavy jellies. Electrolytes generally reduce the
viscosity of Arabic solutions. Ultrasonic waves depolymerize Arabic
solutions. Ultraviolet radiation reduces the viscosity of Gum Arabic.
Arabic solutions are incompatible with soap in making emulsions. The
freezing point of Gum Arabic solutions is decreased as the gum
concentration is increased. Thawing a frozen Arabic solution results in
a reduced viscosity.- Preservatives
Gum Arabic solutions, like other plant hydrocolloids, are subject to
bacterial attack. Methyl and propylparahydroxybenzoate at a
maximum of 0.17% and 0.03% concentration respectively are
extremely effective preservatives. Sodium benzoate or benzoic acid
concentrated at 0.1% is also an effective preservative.