Starch Sodium Octenyl Succinate (E1450)

About This Product

Starch sodium octenyl succinate is tapioca starch esterified with octenyl succinic anhydride. It carries the additive number E1450, INS 1450, with octenyl succinate groups limited to 3 per cent. It is the one grade in this range that is not bought for viscosity, and treating it as another thickener is the usual way buyers get it wrong.

The octenyl succinate group has two ends. One is a carboxylate that stays with the hydrophilic starch backbone; the other is an eight-carbon alkenyl chain that is strongly hydrophobic. Attaching it turns a water-soluble polymer into an amphiphile: one molecule that will sit at an oil-water interface with the starch in the water and the alkenyl tail in the oil. That is the definition of an emulsifier, and OSA starch is a very effective one, capable of stabilising fine oil-in-water emulsions at low use levels and holding them for months.

Its commercial significance is as a gum arabic replacement. Gum arabic is a harvested natural exudate with volatile supply and price, and OSA starch does the same job in beverage emulsions and spray-dried flavour encapsulation with consistent supply, lower use levels and better oxidative protection of the encapsulated oil. In spray drying it forms a dense, low-permeability wall around the flavour droplet, which extends shelf life and reduces surface oil.

Beyond that it is used to build creaminess and stabilise emulsions in dressings and sauces at reduced oil, to encapsulate oil-soluble vitamins and omega-3 oils, as a clouding agent in soft drinks, and as a fat mimetic in reduced-fat dairy where its interfacial activity provides mouthfeel that a thickener alone cannot.

Because it is lipophilic, dispersion matters: it should be hydrated properly before the oil phase is added, and over-shearing a finished emulsion offers no benefit.

Bio Green Foods supplies starch sodium octenyl succinate, E1450, in 25 kg bags and jumbo bags. Octenyl succinate content, emulsion stability, viscosity, solubility and residual octenyl succinic acid are confirmed on the agreed specification and on the batch certificate of analysis. It is gluten free and non-GM.