CARRAGENINA

Nutrytex distributes and sells carrageenan throughout the country for all industrial applications related to the food & beverage sector

What is it

Carrageenan (or Carraghenina, from Carragheen, the popular name for the algae from which it is extracted and the Irish location where they are found) is a substance that was originally obtained from some red algae typical of the North Atlantic, namely Chrondus Crispus and Gigartina Mamitiosa, well known as Irish moss, kelp or marine lichen. Since many years, the primary source of Carrageenan has been represented by another red algae more widespread in the warm seas of the Pacific, Eucheuma Cottonii. Composed by calcium, potassium, sodium and magnesium salts, it has the appearance of a powder, odorless and with a color ranging from yellowish to colorless.

Carrageenan

Nutrytex distributes top quality Carrageenan produced in the SELTMARINE factories, thanks to our exclusive distribution mandate.

Properties

Carrageenan is a prominent product in the distribution of food additives due to its high thickening and gelling power, depending on the source from which it is extracted and the exact processing methodology: in fact, there are different galactans (i.e. polymers of D-galactose) derived from carrageenan, and called carrageenans, the most important and exploited of which are defined as Kappa, Iota and Lambda. Carrageenan is, in addition to this, a stabilizer and an emulsifier, and as an additive it is identified by the acronym E407. It is not thermoreversible, unlike Agar-Agar.

Application sectors

As a food additive, the distribution of carrageenan is required in many different sectors.

• In the beverage and nutrition sector it is used in its viscosifying variants, namely Lambda and Iota, as a thickener both in aqueous beverages and in powdered products that require greater consistency, such as protein drinks;

• In its highly gelling variant, kappa carrageenan, finds other uses; in the confectionery and dairy sector it is used to obtain gelatine, for example in puddings, while in the savoury sector it is a fundamental stabiliser of treated meats, such as cooked hams, where it is used to gel the water that is injected during cooking and which, at the end of the process, will make the product more compact.

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