Bleached Starch (E1403)

About This Product

Bleached starch is tapioca starch that has been treated with a permitted oxidising agent, typically hydrogen peroxide, sodium hypochlorite or sodium chlorite, at a level chosen to whiten the starch and reduce its microbial load while leaving the polymer essentially intact. It carries the additive number E1403, INS 1403.

The distinction between E1403 and oxidised starch E1404 is a genuine one and is worth stating plainly, because the two are often confused and the treatment chemistry overlaps. Bleaching is taken only as far as removing colour bodies and surface contamination. Oxidation is taken considerably further, deliberately cleaving the chain and introducing carboxyl groups so that viscosity drops and the functional behaviour changes. A bleached starch therefore still pastes broadly like the native starch it came from; an oxidised starch does not.

What a buyer gets is whiteness and a cleaner microbiological profile, with viscosity very slightly below native and a paste that is marginally clearer. Those are narrow gains, and they only justify the premium where the finished product is judged on colour: white sauces and dressings, dairy and dairy analogues, white confectionery centres, surimi and fish paste, and coatings where any grey cast shows against the plate. In a dark sauce or a fried coating, the native grade does the same job for less.

Residual treatment agents are the control point. Residual sulphur dioxide, residual chlorite and the by-products of hypochlorite treatment are all subject to regulatory limits and should be read off the certificate of analysis for each batch, particularly for products aimed at infant or clean-label categories where some buyers exclude bleached starch on principle.

Bio Green Foods supplies bleached tapioca starch, E1403, as a fine white food-grade powder in 25 kg bags and jumbo bags. Whiteness, moisture, ash, pH, viscosity, microbiological limits and residual treatment agents are confirmed on the agreed specification and on the batch certificate of analysis. It is gluten free and non-GM.