Starch offers arabic gum alternative

Recent conflicts in Africa have resulted in problems in the supply of gum arabic used by the soft drinks industry, spelling potential delays in development and manufacture, claims ingredients supplier National Starch Food Innovation.

"Problems relating to the stock and quality of gum arabic, a beverage emulsifier, have generated steep increases in price of up to 30%," says the company. "With an uncertain future and unreliable history, gum arabic substitutes are required to ensure continued product development."

The firm believes that its ingredients offer effective solutions to replace gum arabic and enhance processing, flavour and mouthfeel. Speciality starches can offer an array of advantages over gum arabic including improved stabilisation and flavour, says the company. In its native form, starch is hydrophilic - it has no affinity towards hydrophobic substances such as fats and oils. To overcome this, National Starch Food Innovation applied its natural polymer technology to adapt the molecular starch structures to create an amphiphilic range of waxy-maize based speciality starches.

These ingredients enable the creation of high quality, fine and long-term stable oil-in-water emulsions that help maintain viscosity, claims the company.