Sigma Aldrich

[Judy Wilson]

Has anyone had any experience with Sigma Aldrich? One reader wrote in to ask:

"I want to purchase the xanthan gum and other ingredients and the easiest supplier I can find (based in India) is Sigma Aldrich. Their products are for tissue culture use.

What is the difference between lab grade and food industry grade gums (including other gelling agents like alginate or carrageenan).

Is it safe to use sigma aldrich products in food?"

[Anonymous Modernist 288]

Hi, generally laboratory grade and food grade are the same. With Sigma they supply for research purposes and are very expensive. Food grade has a low heavy metal content (no lead or arsenic etc). You can order a sample kit of these thickeners on line from Amazon. The cost was about US$50 plus postage for 11 items. In Australia you can get these from Chef's Armoury in Sydney or Paddymelon in Melbourne. I hope that this helps.

[Anonymous Modernist 10]

Potency is based on refinement of the raw product. All types of xanthan have different thickening potential because of this.

By nature all xanthan will be food grade but because it may have been stored or processed alongside other ingredients that are not food grade Sigma cannot always designate it as food grade. It will say so on the MSDS sheet.

CP Kelco at Tic Gums are also very good suppliers of xanthan and should be available online