Description
As a flavorless gum, it is used by the foods industry to increase
viscosity and as an emulsifier. It is also used in indigestion
tablets and the preparation of dental impressions.
A major application for sodium alginate is in reactive dye
printing, as thickener for reactive dyestuffs (such as the Procion
cotton-reactive dyes) in textile screen-printing and carpet
jet-printing. Alginates do not react with these dyes and wash out
easily, unlike starch-based thickeners.
Sodium alginate is a good chelator for pulling radioactive toxins
from the body, such as iodine***1 and strontium**0, that have taken
the place of their non-radioactive counterparts. It is also used in
immobilizing enzymes by inclusion.
As a food additive, sodium alginate is used especially in the
production of gel-like foods. For example, bakers' "Chellies" are
often gelled alginate "jam." Also, the pimento stuffing in prepared
cocktail olives is usually injected as a slurry at the same time
that the stone is ejected; the slurry is subsequently set by
immersing the olive in a solution of a calcium salt, which causes
rapid gelation by electrostatic cross-linking.[citation needed] A
similar process can be used to make "chunks" of everything from cat
food through "reformed" ham or fish to "fruit" pieces for pies. It
has the E-number **1.
Nowadays, it is also used in the biological experiments for the
immobilization of cells to obtain important products like alcohols,
organic acids, etc.
In recent years, sodium alginate has been used in molecular
gastronomy at some of the best restaurants in the world. Ferran
Adrià pioneered the technique, and it has since been used by chefs
such as Grant Achatz and Heston Blumenthal. Sodium alginate is
combined with calcium lactate or similar compound to create spheres
of liquid surrounded by a thin jelly membrane.
additivesfood.com/product/sodium-alginate
