ABSTRACT
Colloids are extracted compounds that form colloidal solutions, an intermediate state between a solution and a suspension; they can be used commercially as thickeners, gelling agents, and stabilizers for suspensions and emulsions. Phycocolloids are used in global food industries as natural additives and have a number of different European codes: E400 (alginic acid), E401 (sodium alginate), E402 (potassium alginate), E403 (ammonium alginate), E404 (calcium alginate), E405 (propylene glycol alginate), E406 (agar), E407 (carrageenan), and E407a (semi-refined carrageenan or “processed Eucheuma seaweed”). Alginic acid is present in the cell walls of brown seaweeds, where it is partially responsible for their flexibility. Sodium alginate seemed to demonstrate strong anti-bacterial properties; it not only bound, but also killed the bacteria. The industrial manufacture of carrageenan is no longer limited to using just C. crispus as a raw material; numerous red seaweed species are currently used. Carrageenans are commercially important hydrophilic colloids which occur as a matrix in numerous species of red seaweed.
