Resistant dextrin

Resistant dextrin is what you get when starch is deliberately mis-assembled. Maize, tapioca or wheat starch is dried and roasted under acid catalysis - pyroconversion - which breaks the orderly alpha-(1,4) chain and lets the fragments recombine at random, including through alpha-(1,2), alpha-(1,3) and beta linkages that human pancreatic amylase and the brush-border enzymes cannot open. Amylase and glucoamylase treatment then strips out what is still digestible, and decolourisation, demineralisation, chromatographic enrichment and spray drying finish the job. The result is a low molecular weight, water-soluble glucose polymer that reaches the colon intact and is counted as dietary fibre on the label. It trades under several names - resistant maltodextrin, indigestible dextrin, soluble corn fibre, soluble tapioca fibre - and against the generic dextrin registry number CAS 9004-53-9 rather than a number of its own. Fibre content is declared against AOAC 2001.03, a method written specifically for resistant maltodextrin because the conventional enzymatic-gravimetric methods miss the low molecular weight fraction that stays soluble in 78% ethanol. Standard powder grades run at 85% minimum dietary fibre on a dry basis, with 90% grades and roughly 70% fibre syrups also available. What sells the ingredient is its behaviour rather than the assay: it dissolves quickly and completely to a clear, near-colourless solution, has almost no viscosity even at high solids, so it fortifies clear beverages without adding body, is only about a tenth as sweet as sucrose, and resists acid, retort heat and freeze-thaw. Its low hygroscopicity keeps dry blends free-flowing, which is a real advantage over inulin and FOS in humid markets. Under EU Regulation 1169/2011 Annex XIV fibre is declared at 2 kcal/g, which is what allows resistant dextrin to carry sugar reduction and calorie reduction in the same reformulation. FDA's 2018 guidance names resistant maltodextrin/dextrin among the isolated non-digestible carbohydrates that may be declared as dietary fibre on Nutrition and Supplement Facts labels, and GRAS notices GRN 1045 (tapioca route) and GRN 1133 cover the material. Source starch is the only allergen question, and it is a real one. Maize and tapioca grades are free of the major allergens, gluten included, and are the default for export. Wheat-derived resistant dextrin is a different matter: even where the finished powder tests below 20 ppm gluten, it remains a wheat-derived ingredient and has to be declared as wheat under EU Annex II and equivalent rules, and getting that wrong is a recall-grade error rather than a paperwork one. Thovek states the source starch on the specification sheet and on the CoA for every lot, and will not substitute a botanical source between lots without written agreement. The material is vegan and vegetarian with no animal-derived input at any stage; non-GMO identity-preserved maize, organic-certified maize and tapioca grades, and kosher and halal certification are available on request. Each lot ships with dietary fibre by AOAC 2001.03, moisture, pH, solution colour, heavy metals and microbiology.