Cassia gum is the flour and food additives made from the endosperms of the seeds of Senna obtusifolia and Senna tora (also called Cassia obtusifolia or Cassia tora ). It is composed of at least 75% polysaccharide, primarily galactomannan with a mannose:galactose ratio of 5:1, resulting in a high molecular mass of 200,000-300,000 Da. [1]
In 1995, cassia gum was added to the list of approved food additives in Japan by the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare. [2] [3]
Two GRAS notices were filed to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), one on June 23, 2000 (GRN 51) and one on November 21, 2003 (GRN 139), both of which were not evaluated due to notifier's request to cease evaluation. [4] In June 2008, specialty firm Lubrizol Advanced Material filed a petition to the FDA proposing that food regulations be amended to provide for the use of cassia gum as a stabilizer in frozen dairy desserts. Approval in the US is still pending, with no clear indication of when it may be obtained. [5]
In 2010, cassia gum received EU approval for human food applications. [6]
It is used as a thickener and gelling agent, [7] and has E-number E427 in food [8] and E499 in feed (pet food). [9]
Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance taste, appearance, or other sensory qualities. Some additives have been used for centuries as part of an effort to preserve food, for example vinegar (pickling), salt (salting), smoke (smoking), sugar (crystallization), etc. This allows for longer-lasting foods such as bacon, sweets or wines. With the advent of processed foods in the second half of the twentieth century, many additives have been introduced, of both natural and artificial origin. Food additives also include substances that may be introduced to food indirectly in the manufacturing process, through packaging, or during storage or transport.
Stevia is a natural sweetener and sugar substitute derived from the leaves of the plant species Stevia rebaudiana, native to Brazil and Paraguay.
Guar gum, also called guaran, is a galactomannan polysaccharide extracted from guar beans that has thickening and stabilizing properties useful in food, feed, and industrial applications. The guar seeds are mechanically dehusked, hydrated, milled and screened according to application. It is typically produced as a free-flowing, off-white powder.
A sugar substitute is a food additive that provides a sweet taste like that of sugar while containing significantly less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners, making it a zero-calorie or low-calorie sweetener. Artificial sweeteners may be derived through manufacturing of plant extracts or processed by chemical synthesis. Sugar substitute products are commercially available in various forms, such as small pills, powders, and packets.
Food coloring, or color additive, is any dye, pigment, or substance that imparts color when it is added to food or drink. They come in many forms consisting of liquids, powders, gels, and pastes. Food coloring is used in both commercial food production and domestic cooking. Food colorants are also used in a variety of non-food applications, including cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, home craft projects, and medical devices.
Carrageenans or carrageenins are a family of natural linear sulfated polysaccharides that are extracted from red edible seaweeds. The most well-known and still most important red seaweed used for manufacturing the hydrophilic colloids to produce carrageenan is Chondrus crispus which is a dark red parsley-like plant that grows attached to the rocks. Carrageenans are widely used in the food industry, for their gelling, thickening, and stabilizing properties. Their main application is in dairy and meat products, due to their strong binding to food proteins. In recent years, carrageenans have emerged as a promising candidate in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications as they resemble native glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). They have been mainly used for tissue engineering, wound coverage and drug delivery.
Neohesperidin dihydrochalcone, sometimes abbreviated to neohesperidin DC or simply NHDC, is an artificial sweetener derived from citrus.
Frozen yogurt is a frozen dessert made with yogurt and sometimes other dairy and non-dairy products. Frozen yogurt is a frozen product containing the same basic ingredients as ice cream, but contains live bacterial cultures.
Tartrazine is a synthetic lemon yellow azo dye primarily used as a food coloring. It is also known as E number E102, C.I. 19140, FD&C Yellow 5, Yellow 5 Lake, Acid Yellow 23, Food Yellow 4, and trisodium 1-(4-sulfonatophenyl)-4-(4-sulfonatophenylazo)-5-pyrazolone-3-carboxylate).
Sunset yellow FCF is a petroleum-derived orange azo dye with a pH dependent maximum absorption at about 480 nm at pH 1 and 443 nm at pH 13 with a shoulder at 500 nm. When added to foods sold in the United States it is known as FD&C Yellow 6; when sold in Europe, it is denoted by E Number E110.
Xanthan gum is a polysaccharide with many industrial uses, including as a common food additive. It is an effective thickening agent, emulsifier and stabilizer which prevents ingredients from separating. It can be produced from simple sugars using a fermentation process, and derives its name from the species of bacteria used, Xanthomonas campestris.
Generally recognized as safe (GRAS) is a United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designation that a chemical or substance added to food is considered safe by experts under the conditions of its intended use. An ingredient with a GRAS designation is exempted from the usual Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) food additive tolerance requirements. The concept of food additives being "generally recognized as safe" was first described in the Food Additives Amendment of 1958, and all additives introduced after this time had to be evaluated by new standards. The FDA list of GRAS notices is updated approximately each month, as of 2021.
Galactomannans are polysaccharides consisting of a mannose backbone with galactose side groups (more specifically, a -linked beta-D-mannopyranose backbone with branchpoints from their 6-positions linked to alpha-D-galactose,.
Cassia typically refers to cassia bark, the spice made from the bark of East Asian evergreen trees.
Glucomannan is a water-soluble polysaccharide that is considered a dietary fiber. It is a hemicellulose component in the cell walls of some plant species. Glucomannan is a food additive used as an emulsifier and thickener. It is a major source of mannan oligosaccharide (MOS) found in nature, the other being galactomannan, which is insoluble.
Allura Red AC is a red azo dye that goes by several names, including FD&C Red 40. It is used as a food dye and has the E number E129.
Senna obtusifolia, known by the common names Chinese senna, American sicklepod, sicklepod, etc., is a plant in the genus Senna, sometimes separated in the monotypic genus Diallobus. It grows wild in North, Central, and South America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, and is considered a particularly serious weed in many places. It has a long-standing history of confusion with Senna tora and that taxon in many sources actually refers to the present species.
Senna tora is a plant species in the family Fabaceae and the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Its name is derived from its Sinhala name tora (තෝර). It grows wild in most of the tropics and is considered a weed in many places. Its native range is in Central America. Its most common English name is sickle senna or sickle wild sensitive-plant. Other common names include sickle pod, tora, coffee pod and foetid cassia. It is often confused with Chinese senna or sicklepod, Senna obtusifolia.
A fat substitute is a food product with the same functions, stability, physical, and chemical characteristics as regular fat, with fewer Calories per gram than fat. They are utilized in the production of low fat and low calorie foods.
Osteoblast milk protein is the name used by Mengniu, a Chinese dairy company, for a milk protein used as a food additive in their Milk Deluxe since 2005. It is supposed to help the absorption of calcium and promote bone growth in the osteoblasts and prevent osteoporosis.
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