| FEMA | 3732 |
| CAS | 53850-34-3 |
| EINECS | N/A |
| JECFA Food Flavoring | N/A |
| CoE Number | N/A |
| Organoleptic Notes |
|
| Odor | odorless |
| Flavor | sweet sweet, |
| Material Notes | Sweet tasting protein from fruit of Thaumatococcus daniellie benth, a plant from tropical Africa. sweet tasting protein from fruit of thaumatococcus daniellie benth, a plant from tropical africa. Obt. from ripe miracle berry fruits (Thaumatococcus daniellii). Sweetener (5,000 times sweeter than sucrose), flavour enhancer for coffee, peppermint flavours etc. Permitted in EU at 50-400 ppm in chewing gum, vitamin preparations and some other sugar-free products. Use limited by slow contact and persistence of sensation Thaumatin has been approved as a sweetener in the European Union (E957), Israel, and Japan. In the United States, it is a Generally Recognized as Safe flavoring agent (FEMA GRAS 3732).; Thaumatin is a low-calorie (virtually calorie-free) protein sweetener and flavour modifier. The substance is often used primarily for its flavour modifying properties and not exclusively as a sweetener.; Thaumatin production is induced in katemfe in response to an attack upon the plant by viroid pathogens. Several members of the thaumatin protein family display significant in vitro inhibition of hyphal growth and sporulation by various fungi. The thaumatin protein is considered a prototype for a pathogen-response protein domain. This thaumatin domain has been found in species as diverse as rice and Caenorhabditis elegans. Thaumatins are pathogenesis related (PR) proteins, which are induced by various agents ranging from ethylene to pathogens, are structurally diverse and apparently ubiquitous in plants: they include thaumatin, osmotin, tobacco major and minor PR proteins, alpha-amylase/trypsin inhibitor, and P21 and PWIR2 soybean and wheat leaf proteins. The proteins are involved in systematically acquired resistance and stress response in plants, although their precise role is unknown. Thaumatin is an intensely sweet tasting protein (on a molar basis about 100,000 times as sweet as sucrose) found in the West African shrub Thaumatococcus daniellii: it is induced by attack by viroids, which are single-stranded unencapsulated RNA molecules that do not code for protein. |