Dear Hydrocolleague:

Welcome to this week’s edition of Tidbits! Each week we bring you a mix of industry highlights, quick updates, and a few insights designed to spark new ideas. We’d love to hear from you. Send us topics you’d like to see covered in future issues.

Marinalg Dossier for Agar in EU Pet Food - Help Wanted

Marinalg International, the trade association representing producers of seaweed-derived hydrocolloids (agar, alginates and carrageenan) is seeking supporting data to help secure EU authorisation for agar use in pet food.

The EU adopted legislation withdrawing agar’s feed-additive authorisation in 2023, with the final transition period for pet food containing agar ending on 6 July 2025.

Agar derived from Gelidium and Gracilaria remains authorised as a food additive for human consumption in the EU. However, its use as a pet-food additive requires a separate dossier and evaluation.

Marinalg would welcome input from any company or Hydrocolleague that holds, or knows of, relevant studies or other supporting data. If you can help, please contact IMR, and we will connect you with the appropriate Marinalg representative in Europe or the US.

There is a tight timeline--Marinalg is looking for supporting data to submit in early October.

Fathom the Unfathomable

When science takes a back seat to decision making, consumers become hard to fathom.

At the same time, we have said many times:
"The perception of the consumer is the reality of the producer"

So.... go Fathoming.

A negative perception of the food industry in general is that food companies are money making organizations with more regard for profit than nutrition and safety. Ergo suspicion about food formulations and ingredients.

Perhaps changing the perception of some if not all food companies could be an effective strategy to addressing consumer perceptions.


Would a consumer be less critical of xanthan gum in a dressing by Newman's Own because 100% of company profits go to a charitable cause?

Ben & Jerriy's ice cream comes with a high CSR ranking which may overshadow unjustified concerns over carrageenan. Note that Ben & Jerry's became a part of Unilever some years ago and then made part of the newly formed Magnum Ice-Cream company . The founders of B&J themselves are taking issue of the less social and more profit driven direction of their creation.

There are several other, less well known food companies that that curry consumer favor with strategies of "X% of sales (or profit) will be donated to a charity"

Just trying to 'think outside the box' with regard to hydrocolloid perceptions. Believers in science know they are safe. It's the others we are trying to Fathom.

Q3-2026 Nearly Ready

This will be issue number 146, some 36 1/2 years after the first copy of The Quarterly Review of Food Hydrocolloids was published in 1990. IMR has an unparalleled database of quarterly hydrocolloid pricing and supporting documentation.

The third quarter is normally a "quiet time" in hydrocolloid pricing. Most deliveries are made under existing contracts. Negotiations for 2027 contracts will start in Q4 of this year.

But global trade is anything but normal. The level of uncertainty and risk is unprecedented in IMR's 36+ years of reporting on price movements. War(s), energy upheavals, transportation challenges, tariffs, customs duties, anti-dumping, forced labor restrictions, etc., all lead to a "Get it while you can" mentality for many hydrocolloids.

Contracts notwithstanding, there is an underlying upward trend in pricing for many, if not all, hydrocolloids.

Agar average pricing has increased from $7.91/lb to $8.31/lb (weighted average between gelidium and gracilaria).

Acacia seyal is up only 0.05€/kg but senegal is up 0.40€-0.45€, indicating continued uncertainty in raw material supply, especially from Sudan

The gap between Chinese vs. Western xanthan is greater in Europe than it is in the US. Chinese xanthan prices in the US are around $3.75/LB whereas they are nearly half that price in Europe at Euro 3.13/KG.

Pectin prices are likely to remain competitive with the launch of a new and very large production facility in China.

The non-finalized table of contents for the upcoming report can be found HERE.

IMR at Supply Side West - Oct 26-30

Nesha Zalesny of IMR will be attending Supply Side West in Las Vegas.

If you will also be there and would like to meet, please let us know.

As always, subscribers to The Quarterly Review of Food Hydrocolloids will be given priority. By then they will have received their copy of Q3-2026.

If at any time you wish to stop receiving our tidbits, simply click "unsubscribe" below. If you received this as a forwarded message and want to add your name to our Hydrocolleague list, just click HERE.

DSeisun@hydrocolloid.com | +1-858-217- 5024

NZalesny@hydrocolloid.com | +1-619-871-1415

www.hydrocolloid.com