Food additives data book - wordpres

Hexahydric sugar alcohol; isomeric with mannitol; naturally occurring in small quantities in many
fruits.
Prepared commercially by catalytic hydrogenation of glucose.
Polyhydric alcohol: richest source is rowan or mountain ash berry; no natural supply is commercially
important. Polymorphic and exists in three crystalline states. Only gamma form is stable; other two
forms will transform to gamma form under moisture or heat.
Provided in US by Archer Daniels midland, Lonza Inc., Roquette America Inc., SPI Polyols, Inc.
Marketed as NeoSorb – discovered in 1872 by French chemist B. J. Boussingault as a non-fermentable
sugar present in rowan juice which he named sorbite, a linear hexitol.
Also present in high concentrations in: black grapes, apples, nectarines, peaches, apricots, plums,
cherries, pears; formally named D-sorbitol.
Crystalline sorbitol: supplier Roquette America Inc.
Liquid Sorbitol: suppliers Roquette America Inc. and USP – ADM Corn Processing.
ADM sorbitol as marketed by ADM Food Additives Division; available as crystalline 70% solution,
high-mannitol solution, and non-crystallising solution.
Monotropic polymorphism – able to crystallise in different forms (alpha, beta, gamma). Alpha and
beta forms are metastable and may be converted to the stable gamma form under certain temperature
and humidity conditions, causing sorbitol powder to cake. Impossible physically to extract sorbitol
from natural sources due to its high water solubility.
Sorbitol 981