wp

In addition to its growing use in kitchens all around the world and as a bacterial culture medium for its many beneficial properties, the versatility of this hydrocolloid has once again surprised us with a new application.

Several companies have explored the potential of agar in the packaging sector, using it as a source of bioplastics, with the advantage of being an environmentally friendly alternative. Among them, we discovered the project of a Japanese research group, ‘Agar plasticity, a potential usefulness of agar for packaging and more’, which involved the use of agar powder to create a new material that protects raw materials and promotes a more sustainable and efficient development of the natural resources.

The team studied three experimental materials: pure agar in powder form, in powder form mixed with flake ash, and in powder form mixed with red algae-derived fibers.

They used the pure powder to form thin, transparent films, a loose fill pad and a cushioned package.

When combined with shell ash and water, a moldable substance is obtained, which can even be used industrially.

In combination with the fibers, a composition of varying stiffness and thickness is obtained, which can accommodate a wide variety of uses, from the manufacture of packaging boxes to quilted wrappings.

Besides, agar is a biodegradable hydrocolloid, so it can end its life in oceans or landfills.

We wish you all happy holidays and a happy new year filled with lots of health and happiness.

Thank you for joining us once again!

The pâté traditionally used in cooking is a food used, in essence, as an appetizer, side dish or as an ingredient in a more elaborate recipe.

It is a consistent paste that makes it very versatile and is made mainly from animal fat and liver, flavored with different seasonings such as wine.

Although more and more varieties of pâté with lower fat content are being offered in supermarkets, it is essentially this animal fat that gives it its characteristic consistent and creamy texture. However, we can also achieve its unctuous consistency by using agar-agar.

By replacing animal fat with vegetable agar in the preparation of pâté, we make it a food suitable for all types of consumers (including those who follow a vegan diet) and healthier due to its extra fiber and lower calorie intake.

In addition, the thin layer of gelatin that is usually placed to protect the pâté and prevent the fat from spoiling.

In Agarmex we offer a wide variety of food agars for the elaboration of this type of food. If you want to know more information, do not hesitate to contact our team, they will help you and solve all your doubts.

Both are hydrocolloids from red algae that are used as ingredients in the food industry. However, in spite of their common vegetable origin, we can see some differences between both:

Firstly, the species of algae from which each comes are different; while agar comes from the red algae species Gelidium and Gracilaria, carrageenan is extracted from the algae Euchema and Gigartina.

We also find distinctions in gelation. Unlike other hydrocolloids, agar is produced by means of hydrogen bonds between agarose molecules, without requiring other molecules to generate the gel. On the other hand, carrageenan does require the extra ‘help’ of other molecules, such as sugars or salts, to gel. This means that its use can alter the color, flavor or odor of the foods in which it is incorporated.

In addition to this gelling property, we should mention their dissimilarities in terms of power. While agar is capable of forming gels with concentrations of less than 1% and has a gelling power between 5 and 8 times greater than the rest of the hydrocolloids, which makes it possible to use smaller quantities of product to achieve the same effect.

The textures produced by each one are also different. On the one hand, the gels obtained from agar are always strong. However, carrageenan can form 3 types of textures: iota (weak and elastic gels), kappa (strong and rigid gels) and lambda (does not gel and hardly provides viscosity).

Regarding its behavior with temperature, we can say that the dissolution of carrageenan differs according to its typology. While the kappa and iota types dissolve from 70º, lamba is soluble when cold. Agar is usually soluble when it reaches 100º, except for those of low solubility, which dissolve at 65º.

Finally, it is worth mentioning the caloric content of agar, which is the lowest of all the thickeners on the market.

Hydrocolloids are a heterogeneous group of polymeric substances that mostly include polysaccharides and a number of proteins. Its name comes from the Greek word hydro (water) and kolla (glue).

Upon contact with water, it gets ‘trapped’ within its branched, polymeric structure, creating viscous dispersions or gels. This provides the food industry with the possibility of using them to generate different elasticities, textures and properties that improve food conditions.

Hydrocolloids have a wide range of applications due to their excellent properties: they can be used as a thickening or texturizing agent, increase the thickness and texture of foods, as an emulsifier or binder.

Most hydrocolloids are of natural origin, i.e., they are extracted from animals, such as gelatin; from vegetables, such as starch; or from algae, such as agar.

Although there is a wide range of hydrocolloids available to the industry, agar has been crowned as the healthiest on the market due to its healthy benefits: it reduces cholesterol and sugar absorption, has less than 0.2% fat, reduces acidity, provides minerals and regulates bowel transit due to its high fiber content.

In addition, it is the healthiest vegan and natural alternative to animal-based gelatin.

New, more ecological and healthier alternatives are continually being sought when it comes to food storage. One of the most studied options is the use of agar.

This polysaccharide is a very interesting option as it is a material whose raw material is of natural origin, renewable, biodegradable and abundant.

Some of the advantages that agar can have as a preservation alternative are:

• They reduce the speed of food decomposition.
• They are not harmful to health.
• They increase the shelf life of food and prevent the growth of some bacteria.
• They preserve texture and prevent oxidation.
• Its consumption is undetectable as it is a colorless and tasteless polysaccharide.
• Its manufacture requires a simple technology
  

This is due to the perishable nature of food, which brings important factors into play when trying to increase shelf life. This is not only an economic issue for the food industry, but having too short a shelf life is an issue that directly affects the environment: large quantities of food are wasted without being consumed and energy costs for preservation need to be increased.

In our daily lives we are accustomed to the use of plastic materials and preservatives that manage to increase (or at least stabilize) the shelf life of many foods. However, consumers are becoming more and more aware of the products they buy in stores and supermarkets, and with that comes an increasing concern about the quality and preservation methods used. In addition, society has become increasingly concerned about the environment and has rejected the use of plastics and other materials that are harmful to the environment.

If you have participated in microbiology hands-on practice to grow bacteria or fungi in Petri dishes, you have probably used agar as a culture medium. Although agar is today an essential element in laboratories, it was not always available to scientists. In early bacteriology, foods such as coagulated egg whites or meat were used to culture microorganisms.

At the end of the 19th century, the physician and microbiologist Robert Koch started to use gelatin derived from cattle bones as a solidifying agent in his laboratory. However, they found a problem with its application: the gelatin melts at 37°C, preventing bacteria from incubating when they need higher temperatures to grow optimally. In addition, many bacteria were able to degrade gelatin and even use it as a nutrient. Thus, gelatin was no longer used.

At the same time, Fanny Hesse, the wife of a scientist who was part of Robert Koch’s team and his unpaid technical assistant, recommended the use of agar to her husband after some of her friends who had traveled to Indonesia had recommended it for use in making jams and other desserts so that they would not melt in the tropical temperatures.

Thus, thanks to agar’s properties, more stable solid culture media were introduced that made it possible to isolate and study many microorganisms, being solid, transparent and sterile. However, like many other women scientists before and after her, Fanny Hesse never received any recognition or credit for her remarkable discovery.

On September 28 and 29, Agarmex will be attending the Food Tech Summit & Expo 2022, the leading Latin American event and a must for all professionals in the food and beverage industry in Mexico and Latin America.

This exhibition connects the food and beverage technology industry community in an event format that includes exhibits, training and business. The two-day trade fair will provide an opportunity to discover first-hand the latest innovations and to network at the highest level within the industry.

The event will take place at the Citibanamex center in Mexico City and will be attended by thousands of suppliers from different areas of the industry: starch, enzymes, fibers, chemical products, food processing machinery and many more.

Different spaces and areas, all related to food technology, will be available within the center: research and development, food and beverage, production process and technical management, as well as packaging and marketing.

Our company prides itself on being advised and tested by researchers and experts from the Center for Research and Assistance in Technology and Design of the State of Jalisco, the CIATEJ. In addition, we will meet with high-profile executives and get inspired by innovative ideas and business strategies.

Come and visit us at our stand 1340 and discover how we produce and market our agar-agar, both in the food and microbiology industries, its stabilizing and dietetic properties, as well as in bacteriological cultures.