A review of recent developments on the regulatory, structural and functional aspects of gum arabic.

Characterisation of gum from Acacia senegal trees of different age and location using multidetection gel permeation chromatography

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01602791/document

Acacia gum: History of the future

Gum Arabic (GA) or Acacia gum is an edible biopolymer obtained as exudates of mature trees of Acacia senegal and Acacia seyal which grow principally in the African region of Sahe in Sudan. The exudate is a non-viscous liquid, rich in soluble fibers, and its emanation from the stems and branches usually occurs under stress conditions such as drought, poor soil fertility, and injury (Williams & Phillips, 2000).

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Gum Arabic: More Than an Edible Emulsifier

Gums, resins and latexes are a most widely used and traded category of non-wood forest products. The uses of gums embrace food, pharmaceutical and miscellaneous technical applications. Resins have an equally diverse range of applications including their use in paints, varnishes and lacquers, and flavours and fragrances. Latexes are used in specialised applications such as insulating materials and in the manufacture of golf balls and chewing gum. There has been a decline in their use due to competition from synthetic products. This document contains a review of the production, markets and developmental potential of a number of gums, resins and latexes.

Gums, resins and latexes of plant origin

The regulatory specifications for gum arabic (Acacia senegal) are superficial and inadequate to ensure that it is not adulterated with non-permitted gums from other botanical sources. Moreover, the existing specifications do not give the consumer the essential assurance, fundamental to food safety evaluation principles, that the nature and quality of gum arabic used in foodstuffs always conforms to that of the Test Article selected for the toxicological studies which justified the current status ('ADI not specified') of gum arabic as a permitted food additive. The availability of well-preserved gum arabic samples, collected between 1904 and 1939, has enabled invaluable data to be added to those derived from samples from the most recent crops. The resulting analytical data substantiate and greatly extend the quantitative information available previously for the chemical characterization of gum arabic for regulatory and trade purposes. The data confirm that good-quality commercial gum arabic was used previously as the Test Article. There is no evidence that the specific rotation of gum arabic has become significantly less negative in recent years.

W P Wang

Papers

Specifications for gum arabic (Acacia senegal); analytical data for samples collected between 1904 and 1989.