page_title: Carrageenan
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Carrageenan / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: Eucheuma denticulatum, farmed for iota-carrageenan, in a local off-bottom cultivation in Bweleo on Zanzibar, Tanzania.
context_page_description: Carrageenans or carrageenins are a family of linear sulfated polysaccharides that are extracted from red edible seaweeds. They are widely used in the food industry, for their gelling, thickening, and stabilizing properties. Their main application is in dairy and meat products, due to their strong binding to food proteins. There are three main varieties of carrageenan, which differ in their degree of sulfation. Kappa-carrageenan has one sulfate group per disaccharide, iota-carrageenan has two, and lambda-carrageenan has three.
  Gelatinous extracts of the Chondrus crispus seaweed have been used as food additives since approximately the fifteenth century. Carrageenan is a vegetarian and vegan alternative to gelatin in some applications or may be used to replace gelatin in confectionery.
context_section_description: Although carrageenans were introduced on an industrial scale in the 1930s, they were first used in China around 600 B.C. (where Gigartina was used) and in Ireland around 400 A.D. Carrageen gelatin can be prepared by boiling 5 oz (140 g) of rinsed Irish moss in 8 imp qt (9.1 l) of water for 10 minutes, stirring the mixture as it boils. 2 imp qt (2.3 l) of cold water are rapidly added to the hot brew, and after the mixture has cooled, it is strained through a cloth. It is then cooled for 24 hours, during which time it becomes gelatinous.
  As of 2011, global sales of carrageenan were estimated at $640 million. The largest producer of industrial carrageenan was the Philippines, where cultivated seaweed produces about 80% of the world supply, while China is the main exporter to global markets in the US and Europe. The most commonly used sources are E. cottonii (Kappaphycus alvarezii, K. striatum) and E. spinosum (Eucheuma denticulatum), which together provide about three-quarters of the world production. These grow from the sea surface to a depth of about 2 metres. The seaweed is normally grown on nylon lines strung between bamboo floats, and it is harvested after three months or so, when each plant weighs approximately 1 kg.
  The E. cottonii variety has been reclassified as Kappaphycus cottonii by Maxwell Doty (1988), thereby introducing the genus Kappaphycus, on the basis of the phycocolloids produced (namely kappa carrageenan).
  After harvest, the seaweed is dried, baled, and sent to the carrageenan manufacturer. There the seaweed is ground, sifted to remove impurities such as sand, and washed thoroughly. After treatment with hot alkali solution (e.g., 5–8% potassium hydroxide), the cellulose is removed from the carrageenan by centrifugation and filtration. The resulting carrageenan solution is then concentrated by evaporation. It is dried and ground to specification.
  There are three types of industrial processing:
caption: Eucheuma denticulatum being farmed for iota-carrageenan in an off-bottom cultivation in Tanzania
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