Current status and application prospects of sodium alginate

Sodium alginate, also known as kelp gum, alginate, and alginate, is a kind of natural polysaccharide extracted from the cell walls of brown algae. As a natural polymer, sodium alginate has been widely used in food, medicine, industry and other industries. , This article mainly introduces the research status of sodium alginate and its application in medicine and food industry, and prospects for its development prospects.

Research status of Sodium alginate

Since the discovery of sodium alginate in kelp in 1883, many scholars have conducted research on its practical value. It was not until 1929 that it was used in industrial production in the United States, and it was used in the food industry in 1944. In 1983, the FDA approved sodium alginate for Directly used as a food ingredient. In the early 1970s, my country's cotton textile enterprises used seaweed gum instead of grain for sizing on pure cotton fabrics and later on polyester-cotton fabrics, and achieved good results.

In the early 1980s, at the National Edible Alginic Acid Exchange Conference jointly held by the Food Industry Association and the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, experts fully affirmed the edible and medicinal value of alginic acid and called on my country to vigorously promote the edible technology of alginic acid. Alginic acid is currently mainly used in the printing and dyeing and textile industries in my country, but there are not many reports on its application in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Application of Sodium Alginate in Food Industry

Sodium alginate is an indispensable nutritious and vegetarian fiber for human body. As a kind of algin, it can improve the nature and structure of food with its inherent physical and chemical properties. Sodium alginate has the characteristics of low heat, non-toxicity, easy expansion, and high flexibility. Adding it to food can play the functions of coagulation, adjustment, emulsification, suspension, stabilization and prevention of food drying.

The main function of sodium alginate is gelation, that is, to form an edible gel, which is close to a solid, to maintain the formed shape. Therefore, it is an excellent food additive. It can not only increase the nutritional content of food, improve product quality, increase the variety of colors, but also reduce costs and improve the economic benefits of enterprises. For example: in the production of bread and other pasta and pastries, adding 0.1% to 1% sodium alginate can prevent the finished product from aging and drying, reduce crumbs, and taste strong and taste good; add 0.25% to 2% in yogurt The sodium alginate can maintain and improve the shape of the curd, prevent the viscosity from decreasing during the high-temperature disinfection process, and can prolong the storage time, and its special flavor will not change. Sodium alginate can also be used as a Thickener and Emulsifier for margarine. Adding a small amount of sodium alginate to beer can stabilize the foam.

Prospects for Sodium Alginate

In the United States, sodium alginate is known as "wonderful food additive". In Japan, sodium alginate is known as "longevity food". High-viscosity sodium alginate has the advantages of good thickening, good film formation, high gel strength, and good silk formation. It is a good food additive. Countries such as Norway and Southeast Asia have been widely used in the food industry.

The development and utilization of edible algae biological resources is an important direction in current food research and application. Therefore, sodium alginate, as a product extracted from brown algae organisms, has a broad application prospect in "functional food", "health food" and "design food".

In short, sodium alginate has good thickening properties. Film-forming properties, stability, flocculation and chelating properties are bound to expand day by day. Using it to develop new products is a valuable and promising research direction.