What is dextrin? Food supplement E1400: benefit or harm?

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

It is impossible to imagine the modern food industry without additives today. On the packaging of products usually contains information about the composition. And it's good if there are only the words familiar to us "flour, sugar, butter …". But most often the presence of incomprehensible terms is puzzling. How to figure it out?

What is the "E"?

There are a great many additives. Each belongs to a certain hazard class. Here are some examples:

1. Doctor's or milk sausage attracts many with a uniform pink color. An appetizing shade is given not by the meat in its composition, but by the food additive sodium nitrite E250.
2. Bread or any other pastry will not be fluffy with a fluffy crumb for several days in a row if you do not add a moisture-retaining agent (glycerin E422, sorbitol E420).
3. Soup is more fragrant than what is cooked on the broth with a cube of "Maggi", probably not in the world. The reason is the well-known taste enhancer monosodium glutamate E621. It can be found in many spicy, s alty foods.
4. Sea kale, smoked fish, some cheeses and much more can please long-term storage, if not without preservatives (sodium benzoate E211, sorbic acid E200).

Flavors, anti-caking agents, leavening agents, emulsifiers and more. According to international standards, each additive is assigned a specific number following the letter "E". Not all additives that are banned in Europe or the world are taboo for us. Therefore, you need to be careful about the choice of food.

And for density, add…

Let's dwell on such a substance as dextrin, abbreviated as E1400. This is a food additive belonging to the class of thickeners. If we consider what dextrin is from a chemical point of view, it is a low molecular weight carbohydrate formed during the hydrolysis of dextrose or glycogen. Or it is obtained by heat treatment of corn or wheat starch.

As a result, a powdery substance of yellow, brown or white color is synthesized.

Properties of dextrin

Let's dwell on the properties of this substance:

1. Highly soluble dextrin can form non-viscous solutions.
2. Has the ability to remove radionuclides (harmful radioactive substances) from the human body.
3. Safety. It has a low hazard class and does not have a harmful effect on the body, because it is a starch processing product.
4. Benefit. Provedthe positive effect of the use of dextrin due to its digestibility. It can sometimes be used as a separate chemical compound as a source of fiber.
5. Wide range of applications. Knowing what dextrin is, this substance is widely used not only in the food industry. It is used in printing, textile, foundry, glass production due to its excellent adhesive properties.

Types of dextrin

There are several classifications of this substance. To better understand what dextrin is, let's look at the main types.

Division by production method (catalysts are indicated in brackets):

• acidic (acid);
• s alt (s alts of strong and weak acids);
• alum (aluminum-potassium alum);
• alkaline (alkali).

Color classification:

• yellow - formed by heating dry starch;
• white - obtained by splitting wet starch;

Division by type of raw material:

• wheat;
• corn dextrin.

Production technology

Wheat dextrin is made in much the same way as corn dextrin. What is the difference? The difference is that corn starch is originally a starch-containing raw material, and wheat flour still needs to be ground to such a state. And that is not all. Soluble wheat dextrin mixes faster during product manufacture than corn dextrin. They also differ inthe concentration of free glucose in ready meals.

What is the basis of technology? Dry starch (or flour obtained by grinding grain) is added with a dry enzyme preparation "Amylosubtilin" and this mixture is fed to a disintegrator, the blades of which can rotate at a speed of 3000 rpm. As soon as a homogeneous mass is obtained, water is added to it. Next, the composition is heated to 80 - 85 ° C (while constantly and intensively stirring). This is followed by exposure of the resulting substance for 15 minutes. Then it is boiled for 5 minutes and cooled.

The resulting product can be saccharified to the state of starch syrup of the desired composition for ease of use by the end user (bakers, confectioners, etc.)

E1400 - food industry applications

What is dextrin, what happens and how it is obtained, we examined.

In what foods is it present and what properties does it give?

White dextrin is used in baking bakery products, is part of food mixtures, coatings, glazes. E1400 improves the properties of flour, which makes it an indispensable food additive in the bakery industry: a golden crisp and a longer shelf life of bread.

Toffee, caramel and other products of the confectionery industry cannot do without dextrin. You can find this nutritional supplement even in baby food and mixtures, in wine and even beer. It is added because dextrin contains substances in the composition that causefermentation.

It is also added to cheeses and cottage cheese, canned fish, soups and sauces, marmalade, yogurt, chewing gum.

Not all dextrins are as safe as E1400. Not all food additives that begin with the letter "E" are harmful. Therefore, it is very important to understand this issue. You have learned what dextrin E1400 is. And now you can not be afraid to buy a product in which it is listed.