Acacia Fibre (Gum Acacia)

Acacia fibre is gum acacia, long traded as gum arabic: the dried exudate tapped from the stems and branches of Senegalia senegal (syn. Acacia senegal) and Vachellia seyal (syn. Acacia seyal), trees of the legume family. It carries CAS 9000-01-5 and the additive number INS / E 414. Chemically it is a highly branched arabinogalactan polysaccharide with a minor arabinogalactan-protein fraction, arabinose and galactose dominating the sugar profile. JECFA classes it as an emulsifier, stabiliser and thickener and has allocated it an ADI of 'not specified', the least restrictive category available. In the United States acacia is affirmed as generally recognised as safe under 21 CFR 184.1330, defined there as the dried gummy exudate from the stems and branches of trees of the genus Acacia, family Leguminosae. As a fibre it is a non-digestible, fermentable carbohydrate, and on that basis the FDA added acacia (gum arabic) in December 2021 to the list of isolated non-digestible carbohydrates it intends to propose adding to the regulatory definition of dietary fibre. What makes it commercially unusual is that a single ingredient does two jobs: it dissolves in cold water at solids levels no other common hydrocolloid tolerates while still giving low-viscosity, non-gelling, near-neutral-tasting solutions, so it delivers a high fibre load into a drink without thickening it, and the same property makes it a workhorse emulsifier and spray-drying wall material for flavour, colour and oil encapsulation. The two botanical sources are not interchangeable and the certificate of analysis should say which one is in the bag. Gum from Senegalia senegal is levorotatory in aqueous solution while gum from Vachellia seyal is dextrorotatory, and the two differ in nitrogen content, so specific rotation and nitrogen together identify the source; the USP-NF historically specified a specific rotation of minus 25 to minus 35 degrees for acacia, and the EU monograph works to a stated mean molecular weight in the region of 350,000. Sudan supplies roughly 70% of world gum acacia, with Chad, Nigeria, Mali, Senegal and Niger the other main origins. On allergens the position is clean: this is a tree exudate of the Fabaceae family, not a nut and not a regulated allergen, free from milk, egg, soy, fish, crustacean and gluten, vegan, and neither bovine, porcine nor marine. Thovek supplies spray-dried, kibbled and granular grades in bulk with full export documentation.