Chia Seed, Whole and Milled

Chia is the seed of Salvia hispanica L., a member of the mint family, and Thovek supplies it in three commercial shapes: whole cleaned seed in black, grey-mottled and white types, micronised chia powder milled from that seed, and partially defatted powders pressed from the same material to concentrate either fibre or protein. The EFSA novel food compositional ranges for whole chia seed put protein at 15-26%, total fat at 18-39%, carbohydrate and crude fibre each at 18-43%, ash at 3-7% and dry matter at 90-97%. Alpha-linolenic acid dominates the oil, reported at roughly 60-70% of total seed oil, which is why chia is specified in vegan omega-3 positioning where a marine source is unacceptable. The commercial behaviour that separates chia from other seeds is hydration. Whole seed absorbs several times its weight in water and sets a mucilage gel within minutes, giving the suspended-seed texture used in ready-to-drink beverages, chia puddings and dairy alternatives, and giving bakery formulators a water-binding and egg-replacer route without adding gluten. Whole seed also reads visually on a finished product - buyers pay for the speckled inclusion as much as the nutrition. Milled powder loses the visual cue but disperses into premixes and bars, and hydrates faster; the partially defatted high-fibre and high-protein powders are the route where the finished format cannot carry 30% fat or where a fibre claim needs a higher-fibre base. EU buyers should build the Union list limits into their recipes from the start: chia is authorised as a novel food with category-specific ceilings, and those limits, not the ingredient's technical dose curve, usually set the inclusion rate. All material is cleaned by gravity separation, destoning, sieving and optical colour sorting, and released against a lot certificate of analysis covering proximates, purity, microbiology, pesticide residues and heavy metals. Chia is vegan and plant-origin, not bovine, porcine or marine, contains no milk, egg, soy, fish, crustacean or nut material, is naturally gluten free, and is not one of the fourteen EU declarable allergens - though sesame and mustard cross-contact is controlled and declared because of shared handling in Indian oilseed lines. Conventional and certified organic material, and steam-treated low-microbial grades for ready-to-eat formats, are available with samples on request.