Glycerol Monostearate (E471)

About This Product

Glycerol monostearate is the non-ionic ester of glycerol with stearic acid, declared under E471, the mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids. It is a milky white to pale yellow waxy or powdery solid, odourless and tasteless, with a freezing point of 60-70C, made by esterifying glycerol with fatty acids and vegetable-based, produced from palm-derived fatty acids. It is supplied in a 40% monoglyceride grade and a distilled 90% grade, in 25 kg bags.

E471 is the workhorse emulsifier of industrial food manufacturing, and it does a different job in each product it goes into. In bread it complexes with starch to slow staling: the saturated C18 chain threads into the amylose helix, and starch bound in that inclusion complex is less free to recrystallise as the loaf cools, which is why a commercial loaf stays soft for days. In margarine and spreads it sits at the boundary between the phases and holds the water phase dispersed, so the emulsion does not break in the tub. In ice cream it controls fat destabilisation, displacing protein from the fat globule surface so that the globules partially coalesce during whipping and freezing into the fat network that gives the product its body; in aerated desserts the same interfacial behaviour stabilises the foam. The choice between the 40% and the 90% monoglyceride grades is the main decision. The distilled 90% grade delivers more emulsifying power per kilogram and leaves far less free glycerol, 1.5% maximum against 7.0% for the 40% grade, so it is used where dosing is tight or where the residual glycerol would affect the finished product. The 40% grade is the economical choice for bulk applications with headroom.

It is used in bakery crumb softening and anti-staling, margarine and spreads, ice cream and frozen desserts, aerated and whipped products and confectionery.

Bio Green Foods supplies glycerol monostearate in 25 kg bags to specification on grade, total monoglyceride content, acid value, iodine value, free glycerin and freezing point.