Shellac, a food additive E-904, is a natural resin, which is a product of the vital activity of a special type of insects called lac bug (Kerria lacca). Such insects live in the forests of India and Thailand, so these countries are the largest producers of shellac.
How is such resin produced? Small insects living on trees suck up nutritious juices from the tree and secrete them through their skin pores as resin. The secretions of lac bugs undergo a long technologic process and are sold in dry or liquid form. Shellac contains aleuretic acid, shellolic acid, dehydrooxyficocerolic acid, water, dye and shellac wax.
Usually, shellac is used in food (mostly in confectionery), cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. In the food industry, shellac is often used as a glazing agent for fresh fruits (melons, peaches, pineapples, apples, pears and citrus fruits). Also, additive E-904 can be found in the composition of chocolate glazes, sweets, glazed flour products, chewing gum, coffee beans, nuts.
In pharmaceutical industry it is used in tablets to obtain a beautiful, shiny glassy shell.
In cosmetics, this additive is used in soaps, nail polishes, creams, lotions and other products, as a stabilizer and to increase viscosity.
How to recognize the presence of this additive in your food product? If a candy or a cake is covered with a shiny glaze, you can suspect that shellac is “mixed in”. Sometimes the manufacturer does not indicate the name of the additive (E-904, E904, shellac, gum lac), simply designating it as “confectionery glaze”.
Be careful when choosing your food (not only!) products and continue to follow my site. The new page with explanations how to read and understand the back-of-package (and the front too) is under construction and will be launched soon.
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