Sensus America, a subsidiary of Dutch company Sensus, says that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved inulin as Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS).
At the same time, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the FDA gave the green light for inulin use as a water binder, emulsifier, stabiliser and texturiser - at a level between 2 - 5 per cent in non-standardised meat food products.
The news will provide the food ingredients company, and indeed others working with inulin, with a strong edge to tackle the competitive health driven food marketplace. Applications of inulin as a health ingredient are related to its properties as a soluble, prebiotic fibre. In formulating low carbohydrate foods, improving calcium uptake in the body and in promoting a healthy micro-flora and immune function in the colon, adds Sensus America in a statement this week.
"We know that this is an important step in bringing Americans closer to the many physiological and functional benefits that inulin offers," said Bryan Tungland, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs for Sensus.
Sensus America is working with several North American-based food manufacturers on similar applications of its Frutafit inulin and Frutalose fructooligosaccharide (FOS), partially hydrolysed inulins. "There are already many successful products in the market and we expect many more with the final FDA-approval for the Frutafit-inulin," commented Sally Brain, vice president of sales and marketing for North America.
Also today the US Agricultural Research Service (ARS) says it has applied for patent protection covering the synthesis and potential use of prebiotics, made using a new enzyme process, as food additives for both people and livestock animals.
In studies, ARS chemist Greg Côté and colleagues found that anenzyme-based process for making alternan - a promising bulking agent - alsoyielded oligosaccharides that stimulate the growth of Bifidobacteriumbacteria.
Oligosaccharides and other complex carbohydrates such as inulin pass undigested from the lower intestine to the colon. There, the carbohydrates are consumed by Bifidobacterium and other beneficial bacteria that release vitamins, minerals and nutrients that might not otherwise be available to their hosts - human and animal. The bacteria may also change the colonenvironment to prevent pathogens like Salmonella.
While there is already an established prebiotics market in Europe and Asia, the US market for prebiotics is comparatively young, but growing. The ARS says that Côté's fermentation studies could eventually offer US makers a way to mass-produce the oligosaccharides from a domestic commodity: carbohydrate-rich corn, soybean, beet and cane crops. There could also be potential for making prebiotics from pectin from citrus peels and other crop byproducts.
Early lab results from Côté's collaborators, Scott Holt and CandaceMiller-Fosmore of Western Illinois University in Macomb, indicate theoligosaccharides nourish several beneficial strains of Bifidobacterium,but not pathogens such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli and Clostridium. Côté discussed the results last spring at the American Chemical Society's national meeting.
