Gum arabic

Gum arabic, also called acacia gum, is defined in the U.S. regulations as the dried gummy exudate from stems and branches of trees of various species of the genus Acacia, in the legume family. In food its listed functions include stabilizer and thickener, flavoring agent and adjuvant, emulsifier, humectant and surface-finishing agent.

The regulation allows high usage in sweets: up to 85.0 percent in soft candy, 46.5 percent in hard candy and cough drops, and 12.4 percent in confections and frostings. Other limits are 5.6 percent in chewing gum, 2.0 percent in beverages and beverage bases, 1.3 percent in dairy product analogs, and 1.0 percent in all other food categories.

These numbers show how much heavier its use is in sweets than anywhere else, with soft candy allowed the most of any category listed.