Approval by Japan’s Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare means that Cargill’s Topcithin sunflower lecithin, a clean label non-GM emulsifier – made from oilseeds for which GM plant varieties do not exist at a commercial level – is available to customers in Japan for the first time.
It also means food companies worldwide can export products containing Topcithin sunflower lecithin for sale in the growing Japanese market.
Chris Hollebeck, Cargill Texturizing’s business line manager, lecithins, said: “Until now, Japan was the only country where sunflower lecithin had not been approved for food use, so businesses in this market and those exporting to Japan were missing out on this natural and safe alternative to soy lecithin.
“We initiated and secured the approval from the Japanese food authorities, and are pleased that our customers in Japan can now benefit from our versatile, nature-derived and non-GM Topcithin sunflower lecithin.”
First introduced in 2008, Cargill’s Topcithin sunflower lecithin is derived from European sunflower crops and produced in fully backwards integrated facilities to minimise risk of cross-contamination, traceable from field to fork.
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