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Home/Products & Services/Beauty/Ingredient Portfolio/Texturizers/Pectins
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Cargill Personal Care Hydrocolloids Pectin

Pectins

Our pectin is a purified, nature-derived carbohydrate obtained by aqueous extraction from apple pomace or citrus peel. We use these raw materials as they produce pectin of a superior quality and contain a relatively large amount of pectin. Pectin adds significant value to personal care products due to its natural and healthy image.

Pectin has only been produced industrially since the early 20th century, but has long been used for gelling jams. Pectin is now used in personal care products for its gelling, thickening and stabilizing properties.

Cargill can supply grades of pectin that meet the specifications of USP/NF when tested accordingly.

Brand name

  • UNIPECTINE™ pectin

Cargill offers a large range of high methoxyl (HM) and low methoxyl (LM) pectins from both apple and citrus pectin.

Applications
In the cosmetics industry, pectin is used as a structure provider in pastes, ointments, oils and creams. It is also used as a thickener and stabilizer in hair tonics, body lotions, shampoos and conditioners.

Functionalities

  • Forms excellent films
  • Forms transparent, thermally reversible gels
  • Forms gels under acidic conditions
  • Provides fluidity
  • Stabilizes suspensions, emulsions and foams
  • Is stable under acid and neutral conditions
  • Adds value to clean labels
  • Is skin friendly
  • Controls viscosity - pectins have rheological properties, depending on the calcium concentration and the calcium reactivity of the pectin chosen

Chemistry
The pectin molecule is basically a chain of galacturonic acid units. The regular structure is interrupted by the presence of a methylpentose, L-rhamnose, which causes deviations called "pectic elbows". The L-rhamnose is linked by carbons 1 and 2.

A certain proportion of these galacturonic acids are in the methyl ester form. The percentage of the galacturonic acids that are esterified is called the degree of esterification (DE) or degree of methoxylation (DM).

High methoxyl (HM) pectins are defined as those with a DE above 50, while low methoxyl (LM) pectins have a DE of less than 50. LM pectins can be acid or alkali-treated. LM pectins can be either amidated (LMA) or non-amidated (LM).

In the fruit, pectin has a very high degree of esterification (DE). During the acid hydrolysis used to extract it, some of the esters are converted into the free acid form (i.e. they are saponified). By careful control of this process, high methoxyl (HM) pectins with different degrees of esterification can be obtained.

In general, low methoxyl (LM) pectins can be obtained either by acid or alkaline hydrolysis. However, amidated LM pectins can only be produced by hydrolyzing under alkaline conditions using an ammonia solution. Under these conditions, some of the esters are converted to amide groups, which alter the pectin's rheology and calcium reactivity.

Correct preparation of the pectin solution is key, as complete dissolution is key to optimal performance: to be easy to handle, the pectin must have good dispensability, high dissolution rate and maximum solubility.

Pectin solutions are stable under acid conditions (between pH 3.2 and 4.5), even at high temperatures. They are also stable for several hours at room temperature under more alkaline conditions, but degrade rapidly at high temperature.

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