Oxidised starch

Description

Oxidised starch is a chemically modified starch (reaction with sodium hypochlorite).

See also: starch

Application

Oxidised starches are mainly used in:

• mayonnaise, dressings

They ensure the desired consistency and prevent the separation of the ingredients, such as the segregation of herbs.

Gene technology

This supplement is prepared from starch. The primary product for starch are plants such as maize, potatoes or wheat.

• Maize starch can contain a certain percentage of GM maize, in particular when the primary product was imported from the USA or Argentina. In the EU, genetically modified maize is grown on a comparativelly small area and nonetheless is not used as raw material for foodstuff. This may change in the case that the cultivation of GM maize increases in significance. Ingredients derived from several types of GM maize are approved in the EU.
• There is no commercial cultivation of genetically modified potatoes and wheat strains at present. This may change in the near future.

Labelling: supplements based on starch must be labelled as such if they are directly produced from genetically modified plants (e.g. maize). Whether this also applies to modified starches has not been explicitly clarified. In practice they are generally not labelled.