Gellan gum

Gellan Gum is a polysaccharide manufactured through fermentation from corn and various other crops. Through fermentation cells convert nutrients into large molecules. Powder gellan gum is made by filtering and drying the fermented mixture.

Gellan gum is obtained from the aerobic fermentation of glucose by the Sphingomonas elodea bacteria, formerly known as Pseudomonas elodea. This species was first isolated from the Elodea plant by food researchers in the 1970s.

Gellan gum was firstly discovered by U.S. scientists in 1978, and then was reported by Kang, Veeder, and Kaneko (1982) to be successfully produced from Pseudomonas species on a laboratory scale.

At first, they thought it could be used as a gelling agent similar to agar, that is used as a thickening ingredient in foods. Researchers realized that gellan gum had two added benefits over other similar products: It could be used in very small amounts but still produce the same texturizing results, and it wasn’t very sensitive to heat. Gellan gum’s properties make it ideal for use as a thickener, suspension agent and stabilizer in many popular food and beverage products.

Gellan gum was first approved for use in food in 1988. It received full food approval in the U.S Food and Drug Administration in 1992.

The gellan gum has been broadly used in biomedical applications since the FDA approval for its biocompatibility and low cytotoxicity.

Japan first approved gellan gum for food use in 1988. Subsequently, the United States, Canada, China, Korea, the European Union as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) and many other countries have reviewed gellan gum and approved it as a safe food additive.

It is currently being manufactured under patent in two different forms: Kelcogel and Gelrite.The former is used as a thickener and gelling agent, and the latter is used as a solidifying agent, replacing agar in media for microbial growth.
Gellan gum