What are the hazards of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose?

Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose is a compound with the chemical formula C8H16NaO8. This substance is usually granular or fibrous. Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose has a wide range of uses. For example, it is a frequently used emulsifier and is often used as a thickener. For example, many foods contain this additive. So, will sodium carboxymethyl cellulose be harmful to human health?

Hazards of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose:

The toxicity of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose is very low and it is relatively safe.

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FAO and WHO have approved the use of pure CMC in food. It was approved after very strict biological and toxicological research and testing. The international standard safe intake (ADI) is 25 mg/(kg·d), which is about 1.5 g/d per person. It has been reported that some people have no toxic reactions even when the intake reaches 10 kg. CMC is not only a good emulsifier stabilizer and thickener in food applications, but also has excellent freezing and melting stability, and can improve the flavor of the product and prolong the storage time. It is safe and reliable, so its dosage is not limited by the national food hygiene standard ADI.

Contraindications

Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose is incompatible with strong acid solutions, soluble iron salts, and some other metals such as aluminum, mercury and zinc. When the pH is less than 2 or when mixed with 95% ethanol, precipitation will occur.

Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose can form co-agglomerates with gelatin and pectin, and can also form complexes with collagen, which can precipitate certain positively charged proteins.

Technology

CMC is usually an anionic polymer compound obtained by the reaction of natural cellulose with caustic soda and monochloroacetic acid, with a molecular weight of 6400 (±1000). The main by-products are sodium chloride and sodium glycolate. CMC is a modified natural cellulose. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have officially called it "modified cellulose."

quality

The main indicators for measuring CMC quality are degree of substitution (DS) and purity. Generally, different DS will result in different properties of CMC; as the degree of substitution increases, the solubility increases, and the transparency and stability of the solution also improve. It is reported that CMC has better transparency when the degree of substitution is 0.7-1.2, and the viscosity of its aqueous solution is maximum when the pH value is 6-9. In order to ensure its quality, in addition to selecting the etherifying agent, some factors that affect the degree of substitution and purity must also be considered, such as the dosage relationship between the alkali and the etherifying agent, the etherification time, the water content of the system, temperature, pH value, solution concentration and salts.