E241 - Gum Guaicum
What it is and how it is used
Gum guaiacum, also called guaiac resin or guaiac gum, is a natural resin tapped from Guaiacum officinale and Guaiacum sanctum — the tropical American trees whose timber is lignum vitae, historically the densest commercial wood in the world.
The resin is a genuine antioxidant, rich in phenolic compounds, and it was used to slow rancidity in fats, oils and chewing gum base. It has largely been displaced by cheaper and better-characterised alternatives, and it is not on the Great Britain authorised list.
Foods commonly containing it
None in Great Britain. Historically it appeared in edible fats and oils and in chewing gum base. Guaiac resin is still familiar in medicine as the reagent in the faecal occult blood test.
Safety summary
Gum guaiacum (E 241) does not appear in the FSA Register of Food Additive Authorisations, the official list of additives authorised for the market in Great Britain, and it is not on the DHSC/FSA list of approved additives and E numbers. On the current GB list it is not an authorised food additive.
No GB or EFSA acceptable daily intake applies to it as a food additive.
The antioxidants authorised in Great Britain are E 300–E 302 (ascorbates), E 304, E 306–E 309 (tocopherols), E 310 propyl gallate, E 315–E 316 (erythorbates), E 319 TBHQ, E 320 BHA, E 321 BHT, E 392 rosemary extracts and E 586. Note that E 310 propyl gallate remains authorised while octyl gallate (E 311) and dodecyl gallate (E 312) were removed in 2018.