Curdlan gum, a tasteless food additive used to enhance the texture of processed food, is harmless to humans, although “overdoses” could compromise one’s ability to taste food and even cause indigestion, a Department of Health official said yesterday.
Hsieh Ting-hung (謝定宏), deputy director of the department’s Bureau of Food Safety, said that curdlan gum — the generic name for a beta-1,3-D-glucan produced by agrobacterium biobar, a non- pathogenic bacterium approved as a food additive in 1996 — is tasteless and produces retortable freezable food elastic gels.
Upon heating at higher temperatures of about 55˚C, curdlan gum produces more resilient irreversible gels, Hsieh said, adding that it is widely used by domestic food processors to improve texture and crispness.
Beta-glucans are insoluble fibers and therefore have no caloric value. Insoluble fibers have been shown to prevent intestinal cancer and enhance immune response. So far, curdlan is the most concentrated beta-glucan known, Hsieh said.
He made the remarks in response to a report published in the Chinese-language media claiming that curdlan gum had been found to have been added to fish and seafood paste — a substance used to prepare fish and seafood cakes — as a means of cutting costs.
He said food processing companies had not broken any laws by adding curdlan gum to fish paste or fish cakes, as long as it is clearly indicated on the packaging.
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