Nutritional Information

What is Modified Food Starch Made From

Max. D Gray
By Max. D Gray. Updated: January 20, 2017
What is Modified Food Starch Made From

Nowadays, various health scares are gradually making people much more conscious of what is in there food. Indeed if you are anything like us you will find yourself checking the labels on your food to check exactly what you are going to put in your body and ensure you have a healthy diet.

But some of the terms used by food manufacturers can seem confusing and vague. One example of a common food ingredient which sounds a little vague and somewhat disconcerting is Modified Food Starch. As well as being vague (what is food starch?) it is a little worrying to hear that this unspecified substance has also been modified.

If you want to know more about this common additive - where it comes from and how it is made - OneHowTo have put together all the key information in one simple article so you can find out exactly what Modified food Starch is made from and how that process works.

You may also be interested in: What Foods Cannot Be Frozen?

Contents

  1. What is Modified Food Starch
  2. What is Modified Food Starch Made From
  3. How is Modified Food Starch Made

What is Modified Food Starch

Modified Food Starch is not necessarily genetically modified, but rather chemically or physically processed to give it certain properties that are required for a particular use as an ingredient. This does not mean that the starch does not come from a genetically modified plant however. These starches are used in the same way as other starches, for example as an emulsifier, thickener or stabilizer. However, the modifying process may make them more effective in their purpose. They are found in a very wide variety of foods - from tomato sauces, to orange juice, to gravy and even jelly beans, but are most commonly found in so called "instant foods" where only a short preparation time is needed due to their efficacy.

What is Modified Food Starch Made From - What is Modified Food Starch

What is Modified Food Starch Made From

Modified food starch can come from any source of starch, although it typically comes from corn, potato, wheat or other grains. Modified food starch made from wheat may contain gluten but this is not necessarily the case; however starch made from wheat or other common allergens is normally labelled as such so check each packet individually to be sure if you are a celiac or on a gluten-free diet.

How is Modified Food Starch Made

As we have said above, there are many different sources of food starch. There are also many ways of modifying food starch, depending on the end use, and you won't find a great deal of information about how the food starch in a particular product was modified by looking on the packaging. The process of modifying food starch can be a chemical or simply a physical one, but it can also be done using natural enzymes under lab conditions.

Whilst modified food starch is generally thought of as perfectly harmless (albeit that it has no real nutritional value), the lack of transparency regarding the production process is probably the main potential cause for any cause for concern.

We hope this article has been useful and that you now feel a bit better informed about modified food starch.

If you want to read similar articles to What is Modified Food Starch Made From, we recommend you visit our Food & drink category.

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What is Modified Food Starch Made From