Xanthan Made Easy

Anyone whos worked with xanthan gum in a manufacturing environment can attest to the extra work necessary to properly disperse and hydrate the gum. FASTir Xanthan EC® from TIC Gums was developed to accentuate the positive, texture-building attributes of xanthan gum, while mitigating the negatives associated with production. That is, it is highly dispersible, hydrates quickly and offers consistent, desirable textural attributes.

"The biggest benefit of FASTir is how easy it is to work with, as it can be added directly to processes without slurry oils or any other messy, time-consuming or expensive procedures," says Mary Lou Cunningham, innovation manager. "FASTir Xanthan EC is more dispersible compared to traditional powdered or even agglomerated xanthan."

According to the company, FASTir Xanthan disperses more completely when added to a production tank, which means the gum hydrates more quickly than other types of xanthan gum, including nonagglomerated, and even most agglomerated and Western-sourced xanthan. In the final product, it will behave exactly the same way as xanthan gum, but with far less difficulty during manufacturing. For example, says Cunningham, when other xanthan forms lumps in production, those lumps sometimes need to be screened out" of process because that gum will not go into solution. Buyers have to compensate for this by purchasing extra xanthan gum to compensate for the portion of nondissolved gums that was eliminated.

"FASTir does not require screening, prehydration, slurrying or any other special handling," says Cunningham. "Quicker hydration rates of FASTir provide a better value to manufacturers using limited blending resources. Thus, using FASTir will save investments in higher-capacity mixing equipment. All of this is possible without any loss of quality or the need for manufacturing work-arounds that are often used because lesser-quality gums are so much more difficult to process."

In addition to its high functionality and ease of use, another benefit to using FASTir is its availability. "Western-sourced xanthan is sometimes in short supply," says Cunningham. "Chinese xanthan is often more available, but it comes with other challenges, like time to deliver it from Asia to the United States. Further, Chinese xanthan is often of inconsistent quality."

FASTir is manufactured in the company's United States facility by converting Chinese xanthan gum to a product that offers all the advantages of some high grades of Western-sourced xanthan, but at a much lower price.

FASTir can be used in any application where xanthan gum is prescribed, including soups, gravies, dressings and even some beverage applications. And, while easy to use, switching from traditional xanthan to FASTir may require food developers to do some testing early in the development process. This ensures that the desired textural attributes are still being achieved, and allows time to make adjustments before production proceeds.

TIC Gums

10552 Philadelphia Road

White Marsh, MD 21162

Phone: 800/899-3953

Website: http://web.ticgums.com/fastir-xanthan/