Sunflower Lecithin Receives Regulatory Approval in Japan

30 Apr 2014 --- Cargill has obtained approval for the use of sunflower lecithin in Japan – the only country in the world where it had not previously been approved for food applications. Approval by Japan’s Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare means that Cargill’s Topcithin sunflower lecithin, a clean label non-GM emulsifier – made from oilseeds for which GM plant varieties do not exist at a commercial level – is available to customers in Japan for the first time.

It also means food companies worldwide can export products containing Topcithin sunflower lecithin for sale in the growing Japanese market.

Moreover, sunflower seeds are not amongst the common causes of food allergy, so Topcithin™ is not subject to allergen labelling requirements, unlike soy-derived varieties.

Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst, Thorsten Bornholdt EMEA product Manager, Fluid Lecithin, explained that the company had been trying to break into the Japanese market for the past four year. “The centre of the whole drive for sunflower lecithin is Europe, as manufacturers continue to seek out alternatives to soy, because the availability of non-GM soy is declining rapidly,” he explained. “In North and South America the demand has been partially to do with seeking non-GM alternatives to soy but also due to allergens, because sunflower seeds are not subject to allergen labelling requirements.”

In Japan sunflower lecithin is expected to be highly attractive for the thriving confectionery markets, and domestic producers may take up the ingredient for new product innovation. “However, our main goal in securing Japan has been to support our top branded customers, who wish to export to this region,” Bornholdt explained. “Products are generally manufactured in Europe or North America and exported to Japan. At the moment many have stuck with soy in order to avoid running a separate production line purely for the Japanese market, but now they have an opportunity to also look at sunflower.”

As well as seeking non-GM soy alternatives and ingredients which are not on the list of common food allergens, manufacturers have also shown an interest in sunflower lecithin to tap into growth for nature-derived products, according to Bornholdt. “It is increasingly being used as a replacement for semi-synthetic emulsifiers,” he said.

Japan is an interesting market because despite its size in relation to much bigger developed countries it has 4% of the global food market in volume. In addition confectionery is a big market, accounting for a third of this volume, Bornholdt explained.

Cargill Texturizing Solutions commissioned studies from leading Japanese research company INA Research Inc. to fulfil the conditions for use from the country’s food authorities. After working closely with the Japanese government’s approval panels for three years, official approval of sunflower lecithin (E322) as a food additive was published on 10 April 2014.

Chris Hollebeck, Cargill Texturizing’s Business Line Manager, Lecithins, explains: “Until now Japan was the only country where sunflower lecithin had not been approved for food use, so businesses in this market and those exporting to Japan were missing out on this natural and safe alternative to soy lecithin.

“We initiated and secured the approval from the Japanese food authorities, and are pleased that our customers in Japan can now benefit from our versatile, nature-derived and non-GM Topcithin™ sunflower lecithin,” he said.

First introduced in 2008, Cargill’s Topcithin sunflower lecithin is derived from European sunflower crops and produced in fully backwards integrated facilities to minimise risk of cross-contamination, traceable from field to fork.

A versatile emulsifier and wetting agent, Cargill’s Topcithin sunflower lecithin is suitable for a variety of food applications, such as confectionery, particularly chocolate, bakery and convenience foods. It offers improved dispersibility properties compared to soy lecithin, and matches its functionality, taste and colour. Topcithin sunflower lecithin can also replace synthetically produced emulsifiers, such as ammonium phosphatide and citric acid esters of mono and di-glycerides, without compromising on performance, taste or appearance.

Topcithin sunflower lecithin is part of Cargill Texturizing Solutions’ portfolio of texturizers, ranging from single ingredients from major crop extracts (starches, soy proteins, lecithins), seaweed extracts (carrageenans, alginates) and fruit extracts (pectin, locust bean gum) and sugar fermentation (Xanthan gum) to multi-component functional food systems. Of further benefit to manufacturers is Cargill’s extensive expertise in origination, formulation for consistent texture and global supply chain.

by Sonya Hook