Carrageenan Controversy Flares Up

CORNUCOPIA, Wis. A new petition from the an organic industry watchdog group Cornucopia Institute follows the publication of a Chicago Tribune article discussing the controversy surrounding the use of carrageenan  as a food additive.  Last year the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected a 2008 petition by Dr. Joanne Tobacman, a physician-scientist at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, calling for the agency to revoke Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 172, Section 620, which allows the use of carrageenan as a food additive.

The FDA letter issued in June 2012, concluded Tobacman's claims did not support the revocation of 21 CFR 172.60. FDA referenced several studies that contradict allegations from Tobacman that carrageenan is unsafe in food.

The Tribune and Cornucopia report some organic product manufacturers, such as Stonyfield Farm, Eden Organic and Organic Valley are removing or have pledged to remove carrageenan from their organic products, particularly within the dairy foods/drinks segment.

Tobacman and a colleague, Stephen Hanauer. M.D., a medical professor and chief of gastroenterology and nutrition at University of Chicago Medicine have begun a new controlled clinical trial to seek to answer questions about carrageenan's gastrointestinal effects on subjects with ulcerative colitis; however currently fewer than 20 subjects are participating.

Carrageenan market world sales are estimated around $640 million for 2011, up 36% in value since 2006, while increasing just 6% in volume, driven by price increases from a 2008 shortage in raw material, according to  a research group focusing on hydrocolloids, CyberColloids, County Cork, Ireland.