YES, vegan!
Xanthan gum is a byproduct of fermentation of glucose or sucrose given off by specific bacterium. The xantham byproduct is dried and forms a powder which is added to liquid to form the “gum.” For more scientific details, check out wise geek, but let it be know, xantham gum is vegan.
According to my Microbiology textbook, most commercial xantham gum is produced by lactose fermentation, not glucose or sucrose fermentation. Whey is used as a raw material and xantham gum is produced as a byproduct. In this case, most xantham gum would not technically be vegan, although it wouldn’t contain any whey either.
Interesting. I’m curious. How current is your microbiology book?
According to Wikipedia, newer strains of Xanthamonas have been developed to utilize the whey byproduct (9 to 1) of cheese production to create xanthan gum. They site a 2010 microbiology text. Tortora, G.J., Funke, B.R., & Case, C.L. (2010). Microbiology: An Introduction, 10th edition. San Francisco: Benjamin Cummings. Pg. 801.
Xanthan gum is *ALMOST ALWAYS* cultured on corn sugar. So, it should be considered vegan.
Just got an e-mail from Whole Foods where I had asked about xanthan gum
in the 365 Organic Teriyaki Sauce, and the 365 Organic Peanut Sauce.
They said that all ingredients in those sauces are vegan.
That’s awesome. I’m a big fan of that peanut sauce.
Out of 6 people who posted above, only 1 person showed any credible data. That person was J ak who at least gave me a bona-fide reference. The rest was hearsay, opinion and propaganda. Believe Whole Foods? Show me the data!
What data are you talking about? The “data” provided by Anna and J aK is merely a reference to a textbook which *may* contain the data we are interested in. But only those with access to this textbook are able to see if it indeed contains the relevant data. Nobody has come forward with any relevant research yet.
Even then, the textbook would say nothing about the origins of xanthan gum used in specific products. Unless you want to attempt some sort of surprise manufacturing audit, emailing Whole Foods (or whoever) is the best evidence that anybody can reasonably be expected to obtain.
I have just checked Dove’s Farm, which is one of the most common in the UK and theirs is vegan as can be seen on their website.
I emailed the manufacturers of two salad dressings that are currently in my refrigerator, both of which contain xanthan gum (and one of which explicitly labeled their product as vegan). I asked if they knew what substrate the xanthan gum was fermented on. I also wrote to Bob’s Red Mill, a natural foods maker whose xanthan gum is available in health-food stores, and asked the same question. It turned out that both of my salad dressings were manufactured by Drew’s, and they said that their xanthan gum is produced on a corn-sugar or corn-starch substrate. Bob’s Red Mill says they use corn and soy products to feed the bacteria that produce their xanthan gum.
The question of whether xanthan gum produced on a substrate of whey is vegan is probably best left to the individual vegan to determine. On the one hand, the use of an animal product in its manufacture should disqualify it from being considered vegan, even if no whey is present in the final product. On the other hand, it seems that the demand for xanthan gum does not drive the production of whey; rather, it is the production of whey as a byproduct that drives food scientists to find uses for it. Vegans, by abstaining from cheese, are not driving the production of millions of pounds of whey. It seems better to find a use for whey than to dispose of it, not only to minimize waste but also because whey disposal can have negative ecological impacts.