With a long history of safe use and broad global regulatory approvals for its use in foods and beverages, carrageenan is a unique and highly versatile food ingredient:
- Derived from red seaweed.
- Consumed for centuries and used in foods for over 600 years.
- Provides numerous technological functions in foods and beverages, such as binding protein, promoting gel formation, thickening, stabilizing, and replacing fat.
- Used in conventional food, permitted in processed foods marketed as organic, and suitable in foods marked halal, kosher and vegan.
- Leveraged in on-trend products such as mochi, high protein offerings and plant-based dairy & meat products.
Why Cargill?
At Cargill, we don’t just offer products, we work with you to ensure we offer a solution suited to your technical challenges and tailored to your needs and processes.
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Broad carrageenan portfolio |
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One of the widest ranges of commercially available carrageenan from red seaweeds such as Gigartina, Chondrus, Iridaceae, and Eucheuma.
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Trusted supplier |
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Scale, grow and thrive thanks to global supply chains and strategic raw material sourcing to manage costs.
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Enhanced carrageenan expertise |
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Each carrageenan solution undergoes strict quality control tests that mimic the processing conditions of the relevant applications.
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Applications
More information
Regulatory status
Carrageenan (E 407) is listed in Annex II of Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on food additives. Where for particular food categories a limited dosage may apply mostly “quantum satis” applies in many food categories.
Safe ingredient for use in food
In Europe, carrageenan is approved as a food additive under Regulation (EC) 1333/2008. The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) re evaluation* in 2018 noted no safety concerns for carrageenan and processed Eucheuma seaweed.
Furthermore, in July 2014, the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) – an international expert scientific committee administered jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) – determined carrageenan is safe for use in all populations, including infants.
*In its April 2018 Scientific Opinion, EFSA evaluated new scientific data since the last EU safety evaluation in 2003.
Production site
Since 1950, Cargill has been producing carrageenans at our production plant in Baupte (Normandy, France). Continued investment is ensuring that the plant remains cost-competitive and falls in line with sustainability targets.
Read more about our recent investment: Cargill’s Baupte site cuts CO2 emissions by 45% with major process modernization
What's New
Some Cargill products are only approved for use in certain geographies, end uses, and/or at certain usage levels. It is the customer’s responsibility to determine, for a particular geography, that (i) the Cargill product, its use and usage levels, (ii) the customer’s product and its use, and (iii) any claims made about the customer’s product, all comply with applicable laws and regulations.