Dammar gum
Damar gum · Damar resin · Dammar · Dammar gum · Dammar resinCAS 9000-16-2
Listed as a processing aid by the US.
Listed as processing aids (US)
- United States: Processing aid — FDA, Substances Added to Food: DAMAR GUM (SHOREA DIPTEROCARPACEAE)
Dammar is a resin tapped from Southeast Asian trees of the Agathis, Hopea and Shorea genera, used as a glazing agent, a clouding agent and a stabiliser. The crude product arrives as irregular tears and fragments, sometimes with bits of bark.
Where it is and isn’t permitted
| Jurisdiction | Status | Scope and limits | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia and New Zealand | No listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it. | ||
| Canada | No listing matchedHealth Canada’s lists name additives without E or INS numbers, so this site matches them by exact name. A substance listed there under a name this site does not recognise has no row here. | ||
| European Union | No listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it. | ||
| Great Britain | No listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it. | ||
| Japan | No listing matchedThis site imports only Japan’s list of designated additives (Appended Table 1 to the Regulations for Enforcement of the Food Sanitation Act), matched by English name. Existing additives, natural flavouring agents and ordinary foods used as additives are permitted outside that list and are not imported, so an empty row does not show that Japan does not permit the substance. | ||
| South Korea | Permitted, with conditions | Designated food additive: Standards and Specifications for Food Additives, Part III, 1. …Designated food additive: Standards and Specifications for Food Additives, Part III, 1. 일반식품첨가물 (general food additives), 담마검 (“Dammar Gum”, the English the Code prints beside it). Main use (주용도) of 담마검: 피막제, 증점제, 안정제. Standard for use (사용기준) of 담마검: (1) [to be used under the general standard for use in II. 2. 1), the minimum amount that achieves the technical effect, with no limit set for this additive in particular] “II. 2. 1)의 규정에 따라 사용하여야 한다.” The Korean is the standard as published. There is no official English translation of the current Code (the English version on MFDS’s website is the 2020 edition and has no legal effect); the English in square brackets is this site’s description of what each sentence does, not a translation of the foods or the levels. Compositional specifications (Part IV) are not imported, nor are the general standards in Part II, which apply to every additive. | Standards and Specifications for Food Additives (식품첨가물의 기준 및 규격), MFDS Notification, Part III (Standards for use, by item)retrieved 2026-10-18 |
| United States | Not listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited. | ||
| Codex Alimentarius | Not listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited. |
How much is permitted
A listing usually limits the quantity as well as the food. Only one of the forms that takes is a figure: quantum satis and good manufacturing practice permit the amount the technological effect requires and no more, which is a limit rather than the absence of one. Figures below are the range across every food category this page is listed in, and categories differ between regulators — see how much is permitted.
| South Korea | — | 1 no quantity stated |
|---|
No regulator sets a figure for Dammar gum. That is not an absence of control: where the listing says quantum satis or good manufacturing practice, the quantity is limited to what the effect requires.
What it is made from
The dried exudate of the trees; a complex mixture of acidic and neutral terpenoids with polysaccharide material.
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
Compare other additives on the dietary indexes.
- CAS registry number
- 9000-16-2
How JECFA defines it
The international specification for identity and purity, prepared by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives and published by FAO. It is a different document from any above, written by a different body and revised on its own cycle; it is advisory, and a country adopts it or does not.
Dammar Gum
The dried exudation from cultivated trees of Agathis spp., Hopea spp., Shorea spp; consists of a complex mixture of acidic and neutral terpenoid compounds together with polysaccharide material.
Synonyms: Dammar resin, Damar gum, Damar resin, Dammar Damar gum; Damar resin; Dammar; Dammar resin
Assay, identification and purity criteria
Description and assay
- Specification history
- Prepared at the 39th JECFA (1992), published in FNP 52 Add 1 (1992) superseding specifications prepared at the 28th JECFA (1984), published in FNP 31/2 (1984). Metals and arsenic specifications revised at the 63rd JECFA (2004). No ADI was allocated at the 29th JECFA (1985)
- C.A.S. number
- 9000-16-2
- DESCRIPTION
- The crude product occurs as irregular white to yellow or brownish tears, fragments or powder, sometimes admixed with fragments of bark; refined grades are white to yellowish and are free of fragments of ligneous matter; practically odourless, although refined grades may carry an odour of the essential oils used in the refining process
- FUNCTIONAL USES
- Clouding agent, glazing agent, stabilizer
Identification
- Solubility (Vol. 4)
- Insoluble in water; freely soluble in toluene
- Melting range (Vol. 4)
- 90 o - 95 o
- Acid value (Vol. 4) Loss on drying (Vol. 4)
- Not more than 40 Not more than 6% (105 o , 18 h)
Purity criteria
- Ash (total) (Vol. 4)
- Not more than 0.5%
- Iodine value (Vol. 4)
- Not less than 10 and not more than 40
- Lead (Vol. 4)
- Not more than 2 mg/kg Determine using an atomic absorption technique appropriate to the specified level. The selection of sample size and method of sample preparation may be based on the principles of the method described in Volume 4, “Instrumental Methods.”
- Microbiological criteria (Vol. 4)
- Salmonella spp: negative in 1 g E. coli : negative in 1 g
Every name it appears under
5 recorded names. A label may use any of them.
Other names
- Damar gum
- Damar resin
- Dammar
- Dammar gum
- Dammar resin
Hazard reference values
No reference value for this substance in the sources we hold.
Evidence and how bodies read it
Studies, and the differing conclusions regulators drew from them, are curated rather than machine-read, and none has been written for this substance yet.
Common questions
Assembled from what is above, in the words the questions are usually asked in. Each answer is the same statement the relevant section makes, with the same citations behind it.
- What is Dammar gum?
- Dammar is a resin tapped from Southeast Asian trees of the Agathis, Hopea and Shorea genera, used as a glazing agent, a clouding agent and a stabiliser. The crude product arrives as irregular tears and fragments, sometimes with bits of bark.
- What is Dammar gum used for in food?
- It is listed as a processing aid — the role the US assigns it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.
- Where is Dammar gum permitted?
- Of the seven regulators this site reads, South Korea permits it. Each permission is for named foods at named levels, not a blanket one; the table on this page gives them with citations.
- Is Dammar gum vegan?
- Yes. Dammar gum is not derived from animals, and is suitable for vegetarians. This page says what it is made from and how.
Sources for this page
- kr retrieved 2026-10-18
- jecfaspecs retrieved 2026-09-23
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