ALGINIC ACID
Prepared at the 49th JECFA (1997) ,published in FNP 52 Add 5 (1997)
superseding specifications prepared at the 44th JECFA (1995), published
in FNP 52 Add 3 (1995). Metals and arsenic specifications revised at the
49th JECFA (1997). An ADI 'not specified' was established at the 39th
JECFA (1992)
SYNONYMS INS No. 400
DEFINITION Alginic acid is a naturally occurring hydrophilic colloidal polysaccharide
obtained from the various species of brown seaweed (Phaeophyceae). It is
a linear copolymer consisting mainly of residues of ß-1,4-linked D-
mannuronic acid and a-1,4-linked L-glucuronic acid. These monomers are
often arranged in homopolymeric blocks separated by regions
approximating an alternating sequence of the two acid monomers.
C.A.S. number 9005-32-7
Chemical formula (C 6 H 8 O 6 ) n
Structural formula Structural formula from Phillips, Wedlock and Williams: Gums and
Stabilizers for the Food Industry 5 (1990) by permission of Oxford
University Press.