Candelilla wax
Candelilla wax (also called candellina wax ) is a wax that is obtained from the leaves and stems of the candelilla bush ( Euphorbia antisyphilitica ), which is native to northern Mexico and the southwestern United States, as well as from Euphorbia bracteata . It is hard, brittle, yellowish-brown and opaque to translucent with a melting point of 67 to 79 ° C. It consists mainly of hydrocarbons (over 50% with chains of 29 to 33 carbon atoms ). To obtain it, the leaves are boiled with dilute sulfuric acid , the wax is skimmed off the surface and cleaned in several steps.
use
Candelilla wax is used in the food industry, for example instead of the much more expensive beeswax or carnauba wax, as a coating agent and in cosmetics . In the EU it is approved as a food additive under the number E 902 without maximum quantity restrictions for certain products. It is considered harmless and is excreted unchanged.
Import regulation
Candelilla wax is currently subject to EU import regulations. Every import into the EU as well as export outside the EU must be proven with a CITES certificate (CITES = Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora / Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). The CITES declaration is issued by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation in Bonn.
literature
- Robert Ebermann, Ibrahim Elmadfa: Textbook food chemistry and nutrition . 2. corr. and exp. Edition. Springer, Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-7091-0210-7 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Elsa Franke, Reinhard Lieberei, Christoph Reisdorff: Useful plants. 8th edition, Georg Thieme Verlag, 2012, ISBN 978-3-13-151638-1 , p. 399.