My last blog had 'All Natural' labeling claims as topic and my most recent 'surprise' in the 'natural' claims, I experienced , was when I went to buy strawberry ice cream for a kids party.
I did not read the ingredients label, but just grabbed an ice cream that said 'natural' and strawberry. Later that day, I did look at the ingredients label and was very surprised to cellulose gum on the label. True, the ice cream did not claim 'all natural', only natural, but that seems pretty close to me.
Cellulose gum is not a natural ingredient, as far as I am concerned. Besides a cellulose gum, other names such as carboxy methylcellulose or CMC can be used only the label.
Why is do I think it is not natural? First of all, carboxy methylcellulose (which covers a range of molecules with different properties and functionalities) does not exist in nature. It is made from wood or cotton depending on what properties you need for the cellulose gum, which are typically not considered food either. Furthermore, it is made in a chemical process.
Cellulose gum has many functionalities in food and can be used as a thickener and stabilizer in food and beverage products, but also often provides a creamy mouth-feel. It can replace fat in products (low fat chocolate milk for example). In ice cream, it functions as a stabilizer and to prevent ice crystals to grow big and causing a gritty mouth-feel. In the group of thickeners and stabilizers that are commonly used, it is relatively inexpensive ingredient to use.
Let me know if you have any ingredients that you would like to know more about!
If you want to read more about cellulose gum, you can find information here (free registration required.
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