Rosemary Extract (Carnosic Acid)

Rosemary extract is produced by extracting dried rosemary leaf with ethanol, acetone or supercritical carbon dioxide and concentrating the phenolic diterpene fraction. The species carries two names that both look valid on trade paperwork: Linnaeus described it in 1753 as Rosmarinus officinalis L., and molecular evidence moved it into Salvia in 2017, so Salvia rosmarinus Spenn. is the accepted binomial today. The antioxidant function belongs to carnosic acid (CAS 3650-09-7, C20H28O4, molecular weight 332.4) and its oxidation product carnosol (CAS 5957-80-2, C20H26O4, MW 330.4). A separate, water-soluble fraction of the same leaf is standardised instead on rosmarinic acid (C18H16O8, MW 360.3) and is quoted as a different product. Thovek supplies carnosic acid grades from 5% to 60% by HPLC. Antioxidant grades are deodorised and decolourised so they can be dosed into a fat without carrying rosemary aroma or colour into the finished food; culinary oleoresin-type grades that keep the aroma are a different article, quoted separately, and they classify differently at customs. Carnosic acid is lipophilic, dissolving in edible oils, ethanol and propylene glycol while remaining poorly soluble in water, so beverage and dry-blend applications take a water-dispersible grade built on a declared carrier. In the EU, rosemary extract of the carnosic acid and carnosol type is authorised as antioxidant E 392; permitted food categories and maximum use levels are set category by category and should be checked against the specific application before a launch. Because carnosic acid oxidises to carnosol during drying, milling and storage, we report the two markers as separate figures rather than as a single total, and state the HPLC method and reference standard on every certificate of analysis. The material is plant-derived, vegan and vegetarian and, in its undiluted form, free of the fourteen EU-declarable allergens; where a carrier is used it is named on the specification so the buyer can carry the declaration through to the finished label. Batch documentation covers identity, assay, heavy metals, pesticide residues, residual solvent and microbiology, with retention samples held against every lot.