*2.1.3 Alginate*

Alginate is an unbranched polysaccharide and is composed of sodium salt of alginic acid that is derived from some species of brown algae. Alginates are indigestible natural polysaccharides acquired from seaweed and have been reported to be a stabilising and thickening in the food market. It has good film forming properties as it can form gels through crosslinking with divalent cations like Ca2+. For this reason, alginate finds interesting application for coating fresh and processed food items [11].
