E-numbers / Thickeners & emulsifiers / E410
also: Carob gum · Carob bean gum · LBG
Ground carob seeds that make ice cream smooth and stop ice crystals forming. Reviewers found a thin safety margin only in special formula for young babies.
Scan a barcode to check a food for locust bean gum. NutraSafe Pro · £6.99/month · iOS
Greek Style Yogurt (Milk) (40%) · Whole Milk · Sugar · Dried Skimmed Milk · Vanilla Extract · Stabiliser: Guar Gum, Locust Bean Gum, Carrageenan.
Locust bean gum, also called carob gum, is made by grinding the inner part of carob tree seeds.
774
of the 43,325 UK supermarket foods we checked declare E410 in their ingredients
That is 1.8%, counted by its code or its name.
Counted by NutraSafe from UK supermarket ingredient lists, September 2026. How we counted
Locust bean gum, also called carob gum, is made by grinding the inner part of carob tree seeds. The carob tree grows around the Mediterranean and has been farmed for thousands of years. The gum is a long chain of sugars, from the same family as guar gum.
Stirred into water it swells into a thick, slippery liquid. It thickens food, keeps fat and water from separating, and slows ice crystals growing in frozen food. It does not set on its own, but with carrageenan or xanthan gum it makes a firmer, smoother set, so less of each is needed.
Ice cream and frozen desserts, cream cheese and cheese spreads, salad dressings, yoghurt, chocolate milk drinks, low-fat dairy, some infant formula, gluten-free baking and some pet food. UK labels call it locust bean gum, carob gum or E410.
The body cannot digest locust bean gum, so it passes through the stomach and small intestine mostly whole, much like fibre. European reviewers looked at it in 2017, and the international committee before them. Neither set a numerical daily limit for the general population.
European reviewers looked at locust bean gum again in 2017 and raised no safety issue for the general population at permitted and estimated intakes.
The international committee set no numerical daily limit, finding none necessary on the data available.
In 2023 reviewers looked at babies under 16 weeks fed only special medical formula. They used a study in newborn piglets, where 1,400mg per kg of body weight a day lowered zinc in the blood. At the most the law allows in that formula, the babies' intake came out higher than that. At the amounts makers say they actually use, it came out just under it.
Reviewers took 1,400mg per kg of body weight a day as the reference point, from a newborn piglet study showing lower blood zinc.
For babies under 16 weeks on special formula alone, intake at the legal maximum gave a margin below 1, which reviewers treat as a concern. At the average levels makers reported, the margin was 1.2 to 1.6.
Because it is not digested higher up, it reaches the large bowel, where bacteria ferment it into short-chain fatty acids. This may change which bacteria live there. At normal food amounts the effect is thought to be modest, in line with other fibres.
Gums of this family, locust bean gum included, are fermented by bowel bacteria into short-chain fatty acids, much like other soluble fibres.
Daily limit. None set (international committee, 1981).
No group is told to avoid it in everyday food. Parents of babies under 16 weeks on special medical formula may want to know reviewers found a thin safety margin there in 2023. Look for locust bean gum, carob gum or E410 on the formula label.
For adults and older children, two separate review bodies looked at locust bean gum and set no daily limit, treating it much like fibre. The one open question is narrow but real. In 2023 reviewers found that very young babies fed only special formula could take in more than their reference point if makers used the most the law allows. At the levels makers say they use, the margin was just enough. That is a regulator flagging a genuine gap, not a concern that was waved away.
No. Locust bean gum is approved in a wide range of foods in the UK. Reviewers flagged a thin margin in special formula for babies under 16 weeks in 2023, but it is not banned.
Yes, for babies under 16 weeks fed only special medical formula. In 2023 European reviewers found that at the legal maximum, those babies could take in more than a level that lowered blood zinc in newborn piglets. At the average levels makers reported, the margin was just enough.
Ice cream, frozen desserts, cream cheese, cheese spreads, salad dressings, yoghurt, chocolate milk drinks, gluten-free baking and some infant formula. Labels call it locust bean gum, carob gum or E410.
Yes. It is made entirely from carob tree seeds, with nothing from animals.
Last reviewed: 20 June 2026
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