Demystifying E407 and E407a Additives (Carrageenans) Through Their Gastronomic Alchemy: A Contribution to Increase Consumer Sovereignty

Food waste has been recognized as an environmentally damaging practice that is ethically wrong and does not contribute to sustainable development. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, one-third of the food produced each year for human consumption is wasted. The use of additives can help to prevent food waste if they can overcome the problem of the limited supply of natural ingredients, increase the shelf life of food, and simplify cooking procedures. Therefore, the demystification of food additives, as well as their importance and uses, will help to increase consumers’ consciousness and enable them to make informed choices. This work reviews the physical/chemical properties of carrageenans, which are widely used as thickening and stabilizing agents in a wide range of everyday foods. This critical revision was made through bibliographic searches between January and May 2024 in the PubMed and Web of Science databases. The following keywords, in English, were used: “carrageenan*” and “additive*”, combined with the Boolean operator “AND”. Depending on the field of knowledge, another keyword was added to the search, such as, for instance, “chemical composition*”, “physical properties*”, “reology*”, “legal framework*”, “extraction*”, or “molecular cuisine*”. Additionally, the search allowed us to highlight how carrageenans can contribute to a better result in the final preparation of food and how they can be used in modern cuisine using simple molecular gastronomy recipes.