Present Status and Future Prospects of Agar-Agar Technology

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Natural water-soluble polymer polysaccharide-Agar is mainly composed of agarose and agar gum.

It is mainly a strip or powder made from the cell wall of red algae seaweed, such as Echinacea edulis, stone flower cauliflower, chicken feather, and laver substance.

Due to its special properties (unique gelability and gel stability), agar-agar can be widely used in food, medicine, daily chemical, biological engineering, etc., and the demand is increasing every year, so the future market prospect of agar is promising.

agar-agar technology
Status and Prospects of Agar Technology

China has abundant seaweed resources and mature seaweed breeding technologies, so the agar production ranks among the highest in the world.

raw material of agar agar: gracilaria

The development of the agar industry has promoted the rapid development of China's seaweed breeding industry, which has a good role in improving the marine environment and increasing the employment rate.

In addition, agar and its processed products also reflect its application value in various industries, not only in food, but also in biochemical fields, marine medicine, and daily chemical industries.

For example, agar can be used as a thickener, emulsifier, gelling agent, excipient, suspending agent, moisture retention agent, and is used in food industries such as dairy products, confectionery, pastries, canned food, cold drinks, beverages, and meat products.

Agar can also be used as a clarifying agent in wine, soy sauce, vinegar and other brewing products. In biomedicine, agar is not easily decomposed and used by microorganisms, so it is often used in microbial culture media and also used as a medicinal ointment substrate.

agar agar strips

At present, the production of agar mainly uses the high-temperature dilute alkali method, and the process technology is very mature. The enzymatic auxiliary process is still in the experimental stage, and further research is of great significance to improve the amount of alkali and reduce the cost of sewage treatment.

In addition, it is also considered to use agar sulfate enzyme to assist cellulase to remove agar sulfate group, to further reduce the amount of lye.

In the aspect of deep processing of agar, as one of the important directions, agarose is an important part of expanding the application field of agar. However, at present, the quality and market share of domestic agarose products are not as good as those of imported products. In addition, domestic research on the modification of agarose has hindered the development of the agarose and its derivative products industry in China. Therefore, in-depth research on agarose and its derivative products is conducive to improving the quality of domestic agarose and the development of the agarose industry.

Agarose oligosaccharide has excellent biological activity, and its potential application value has attracted the favor of scholars in related fields.

The biological activity mechanism of agarose oligosaccharide is still in the research stage, especially the application of new agarose oligosaccharide in prebiotics needs to be further studied.

Research

As everyone knows, domestic research on starch modification has been relatively mature. If it can be used for reference in agar, it will be of far-reaching significance to increase the types of agar-derived products and expand the agar application.

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