There is hardly any other natural product whose applications are so diverse as those of gelatine. Gelatine plays a major role from foodstuffs, medicines and photography right up to matches.

Gelatine in the Food Industry

There are many versatile uses for gelatine in modern food production. The main reason for this is its unique ability to react under heat. Gelatine melts at 37 degrees Celsius and becomes firm again when it cools down. Foods using gelatine therefore melt in the mouth at body temperature and generate a unique mouth feel and an intensive flavour. Its pleasant eating properties make it irreplaceable for the food sector.

Just by the way, gelatine is a source of high-quality protein, free of choles-terol and sugar and containing practically no fat. It is easy to digest and completely broken down by the human organism. On top of that gelatine has hardly any potential for causing allergies.

Many half-fat, low fat or light products would not be possible without gela-tine. Whether half-fat margarine or butter, low-fat patés or reduced-fat cheeses – gelatine is used everywhere. It is neutral in taste, binds large quantities of water, forms gels and gives food that “great mouth feel”.

Confectionery

Edible gelatine is indispensable for gummy bears, fruit and wine gums, jelly babies, chewy toffees, marshmallows, marshmallow wafers, liquorice, chocolate marshmallows and many other treats. It gives them elasticity, the right degree of chewiness and a long shelf life. For light-as-air sweets, gelatine allows the foam to form and stabilises it for the transport and storage of the products.

Baked Goods

A gateau without gelatine? This is hard to imagine. Because gelatine stabilises the butter cream and cream filling, makes it easy to cut without collapsing and increases the shelf life. Industrially manufactured gateaux can be frozen and defrosted without any problems – thanks to powdered, leaf or instant gelatine.

Dairy Products and Desserts

Dairy products are very popular. Gelatine plays an extremely important role in their preparation and in the development of ever more new varieties. The right dose and the right type of gelatine ensure creamy-light yoghurts or more solid dairy products, such as curd cheese and kefir.

Whether firm or loose and light, gelatine gives creams and mousse des-serts the desired consistency and that pleasant mouth feel. Refreshingly fruity table jellies are transparent and “wobbly” thanks to gelatine.

Meat, Fish and Sausages

In patés and aspics, gelatine ensures a delicious appearance. Many salami or pepper sausage varieties are protected from drying out with a protective coating of gelatine.

In fish applications, gelatine is mainly used in the manufacture of aspic products. Here, it protects against light and oxygen, as well as enhancing appearance.

To increase protein enrichment in patés, ready-meals and other delicacies, special gelatines are gaining in importance.

Drinks

Gelatine also enhances the drinking pleasure. Wines, fruit juices, cider – and in some countries beer – are subjected to a gelatine treatment to be clarified. In the process, gelatine reacts with the tannins and bitter substances and absorbs cloudy elements that then sink to the bottom and can be separated from the drink.

Gelatine in the Pharmaceuticals Industry

Gelatine is used in myriad ways in the pharmaceuticals industry. It is used for the manufacture of hard and soft gel capsules, tablets and dragees, and prevents drugs from being damaged by air and light. Due to its good compatibility with human tissue, gelatine in sponge form is used to treat wounds and as a replacement for blood plasma in solutions.

Capsules and Tablets

As a component of hard and soft capsules, gelatine protects drugs against harmful influences, such as light or oxygen. Soft capsules are mainly used for vitamins and food supplements, hard capsules for medicines. Gelatine helps to keep the active pharmaceutical agents together reliably and for a long time.

Thanks to careful selection and dosage, even the release speed of active medical agents can be enhanced with the use of capsules.

Gelatine-coated tablets (caplets) are a new technological development. The external coating with gelatine ensures that patients can swallow the caplets easily without any problems.

Vitamin Preparations

Using gelatine, very finely distributed vitamin A and E drops of oil can be converted into a free-flowing powder that dissolves well in watery solutions. Surrounding the vitamins with gelatine protects the preparation against oxygen and light, and means that it can be kept for longer periods. The surrounding is soluble in warm and cold liquids. Fizzy vitamin tablets are just one example of this.

Gelatine Sponges

Gelatine sponges play an important role in dentistry and surgery. The blood-stanching sponges are completely absorbed by the body´s own tissue while the wound is healing.

Plasma Expanders

In emergency medicine, plasma expanders (blood volume replacements) based on gelatine are often used where a lot of blood has been lost in order to balance the patient’s blood volume again quickly.

Gelatine in the Photographic Industry

Modern photography would be inconceivable without gelatine. Silver salt photographic materials consist of up to 15 layers containing gelatine that are poured onto film or paper. Here gelatine acts as a binding agent for light-sensitive silverhalide crystals. Due to their swelling properties, the photographic essences can penetrate the layers and be removed again by watering. Gelatine is an important component for the complex layer technique. It has the ability to form a solution during heating that sets to a gel again on cooling down and can be kept after water removal. Gelatine’s properties are needed to produce photographic materials such as amateur films, colour paper, graphic films and X-ray films, in industrial volumes.

Gelatine is also indispensable for digital photography. The ink-jet printer paper coated with gelatine guarantees brilliant colours and clear shapes. This results in prints of the highest quality.

Gelatine is Universal – Other Applications

Gelatine develops its healthy and stabilising effects in the food, pharmaceuticals and photographic industries. Furthermore many other industry sectors also benefit from the positive properties of this natural product. The examples cited are a selection from the broad spectrum of gelatine applications.

As an additive in washing up liquids collagen hydrolysates and collagen surfactants based on gelatine develop their good compatibility with the skin and protect it against the aggressive surfactants. In their capacity as fibre-protecting proteins they have a tangible effect in special detergents for wool, silk and other delicate textiles.

Specially selected gelatines and gelatine hydrolysates are widely used as foliar fertilisers. Thanks to the slow depletion of amino acids, the nitrogen is precisely dosed. Gelatine thus has a positive influence on the metabolism of plants.

In the manufacture of matches, the binding properties of gelatine are indispensable for sticking the heads.
Gelatine is also used in the paper industry. Here, it improves resistance to moisture and the stiffness of the paper. Books can also be restored with gelatine.

Zinc and cadmium can be cleaned with the addition of gelatine in electrolytic baths. Gelatine enables the sedimentation of dirt and thus creates the basis for the production of metals of high purity.

In the restoration of buildings – for example the Semper Opera House in Dresden, one of the most beautiful music theatres in Europe, or the Pont Alexandre III, the largest bridge in Paris – gelatine is being used as an elastic adhesive.

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