“Last year more American consumers filled their grocery carts with organic products—including everything from organic produce and organic ice cream to organic fresh juices and organic dried beans”, according to the Organic Trade Association’s (OTA) 2018 Organic Industry Survey, released in May 2018.
“Total organic US retail food and non-food sales rose to a new record of $49.4 billion in 2017, up 6.4% from the previous year”, says OTA. “More specifically, organic food market sales hit $45.2 billion, also breaking through to a new record for an increase of 6.4%.”
OTA noted that “the growth rate for organic food sales was below 2016’s 9% pace and was impacted by markedly slow growth in the big organic dairy and egg category. Nevertheless, it was well above that of the overall food market, which nudged up 1.1%. Organic continued to increase its penetration into the total food market, and now accounts for 5.5% of the food sold in retail channels in the U.S.”
Gum Acacia: Versatile, Organic
Unlike starches and other physically, enzymatically or chemically altered ingredients, gum acacia is 100% natural and 90% soluble dietary fiber. This makes it easy to incorporate into numerous better-for-you applications such as beverages, cereal bars, baked goods and dairy products. In particular, gum acacia is a crucial ingredient in the production of stable beverage emulsions.
One ingredient company supplying the organic market is ISC Gums, Edison, N.J.
“Our customers have focused much more attention on organic products and our organic gum acacia sales have increased 700% since 2016 alone,” notes Matthew Berliner, ISC Gums vice president. “Our customers continue to position themselves as leaders in the organic marketplace and ISC helps them succeed.”
Berliner notes that the company participates in the Organic Certification Program operated by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDA).
“The New Jersey Department of Agriculture audits our facility annually,” he says. “It is an extensive audit as they scrutinize our facility, our equipment, our methods, procedures, standards. No stone is left unturned.”
For many ingredient manufacturers, it is a challenge to source organic feed stock. However, this is not the case when it comes to gum acacia. Gum acacia is harvested by hand from Acacia Senegal and Seyal trees that grow wild in Africa. These growing regions remain untouched by time and are so massive in size that commercial farming—involving any pesticides, synthetic fertilizers or other products restricted by organic standards—would be cost prohibitive.
That said, ISC Gums’ foreign raw material suppliers are inspected by Ecocert SA, a global organic certification firm based in France.
Proven Products
ISC’s Premium Spray Dried Gum Arabic 111 is available as 100% Organic. In fact, the 111 CO (Certified Organic) is the food and beverage industry’s leading emulsifying gum acacia Senegal. In powder form, it is white. In a 20% solution, it is the color of tea.
“We spray dry our gum acacia differently than our competition,” notes Berliner. “Our methods expose the gum acacia to significantly less heat because overheating can degrade the emulsification properties of the acacia. Customers with difficult emulsions, typically find success when they utilize our 111.”
ISC’s Spray Dried Gum Acacia H-600 also is available as 100% Organic. The H-600 CO (which stands for Certified Organic) is 100% pure gum acacia Seyal. In powder form, it is tan. In a 20% solution, it is the color of black coffee.
“The growth of H-600 CO has been in powdered beverages, nutritional bars and similar products where a darker color end product is acceptable” adds Matthew Berliner. “In beverages, acacia provides superior mouthfeel. In bars, the binding properties of acacia allow the formulator to use less sugar.”
ISC’s Spray Dried Gum Acacia H-380 is available at 99.11% Organic. The H-380 CO is decolorized gum acacia Seyal. The color is removed to match the white color of Premium Spray Dried Gum Arabic 111.
Matthew Berliner adds, “ISC’s H-380 CO is for the customer that has a color sensitive product that is not an emulsion. They don’t want the additional cost of the emulsifying gum—but they need that white color. ISC’s H-380 and H-380 CO is the time-tested answer for these customers.”
Berliner notes that today’s consumers want ingredients they can recognize, understand and believe are safe.
“More of our customers look to ISC for organic gum acacia to replace ingredients such as maltodextrins and other modified starches,” he says. “Besides enjoying the benefits of our acacia being organic, our customers are finding that acacia typically outperforms modified starches—especially for stabilizing beverage emulsions.
Family owned and operated, ISC Gums is a leading manufacturer of gum acacia. Founded in 1941, ISC is the original developer of the gum acacia spray drying processes that are still utilized today. ISC Gums produces organic, Non-GMO, kosher and halal certified gum acacia.
Visit www.iscgums.com for more information.
ISC Gums
65 Brunswick Avenue
Edison, NJ 08817
Phone: 732 248 1946
E-mail: cs@iscgums.com
