A thickener is a substance that increases the viscosity of a food, in other words makes it thicker. Makers use it when a product needs a certain thickness.
Vietnam regulates additives through a list of permitted additives (Circular 24/2019/TT-BYT, referencing international Codex standards); a substance not on the list is not permitted in Vietnam, and that is the first tier of the Yenzo Scale — see how levels are set.
Very low risk: no concern at the levels used in food. How we score →
Fun fact. Locust bean gum is one of the products made from the carob tree, whose pods, seeds and leaves are transformed into high-value products. The carob tree is indigenous to the Near East and has long been valued for its fruits and seeds. Historically, carob pods were an important source of nutrition for both humans and livestock. The seeds are extremely hard and historically served as standardized units of weight, which underlines the long-standing economic importance of the species since antiquity. Today carob is used in foods such as flour, syrups and cocoa substitutes. Source: Carob Tree: A Review of Traditional Uses, Medicinal Properties, and Future Perspectives in Sustainable Forestry (Life, 2026)
Thickeners are used in foods that need to be thicker. Each code has its own page with the functions given in Circular 24/2019/TT-BYT; for example guar gum (E412), xanthan gum (E415), pectin (E440) and glycerol (E422) are all listed with the function thickener.
Labels usually write the group name followed by the INS number in brackets, for example “thickener (415)”, or the code E415, or the name of the substance (xanthan gum). A substance may be written in any of these ways.
Yenzo does not rank additives. Some codes of this group that have a page on Yenzo: E410 (carob bean gum), E412 (guar gum), E415 (xanthan gum), E422 (glycerol), E440 (pectin). All of them are named in Appendix 1 of Circular 24/2019/TT-BYT.
Are there thickeners in your product?
Snap the label — Yenzo finds them and rates the product.
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