Plant-based opportunity
Next we headed to the Ashland Ingredients booth where program manager Dr Mark Hines explained how surging growth in plant-based beverages had created new opportunities for cellulose gum (from wood pulp or cotton), which can create a creamier mouthfeel and help suspend protein particles, without some of the 'sliminess' associated with xanthan gum. It is also viewed as more label-friendly than carrageenan by some manufacturers, he said.