Sodium carboxymethylcellulose icings

Sodium carboxymethylcellulose is acceptable for use in food, and is employed in a variety of foodstuffs. It is used to prevent formation of ice crystals in ice creams to control the consistency of cheese spreads to stabilise the emulsions needed in salad creams and to thicken toothpaste. 

Sodium carboxymethylcellulose (commonly known as CMC) was introduced in 1945 by Josephson and Dahle 10) for use in ice cream. It is cold water-soluble, will not react with acid, and has excellent water-binding properties. When properly processed, it is easily dispersible and quickly soluble in the mix. These properties make it well suited for high temperature-short time (HTST) mix. When used alone, it has a tendency to cause separation or wheying off in the mix. Irish moss extract is used with CMC to eliminate this condition. From 0.15 to 0.25% CMC is most often used in ice cream mix. 

Sodium carboxymethylcellulose is readily soluble in water and is insoluble in organic solvents. The material is used as a soil-suspending agent in detergents, suspending agent in latex paints and as an adhesive it is also used as a stabiUzer in food products such as ice cream. 

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