Magnesium Chloride photo from Freepik

Magnesium Chloride has been added to The Vegetarian Resource Group’s Food Ingredient Guide. Here’s this new entry:

Magnesium Chloride
Alternate Names: nigari, bittern, MgCl2, E511, bischofite
Commercial Source: Mineral
Used in: tofu, infant formula, sports drinks, beer, dietary supplements, winter road deicing, animal feed, fertilizer
Used as: coagulant, flavoring agent, electrolyte, deicing agent
Definition: Typically evaporated from seawater, magnesium chloride is a common coagulant in tofu production. Magnesium chloride possesses GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Manufacturers:
Adnan Heikal of Alliance Chemical: “This product does not contain any declared animal-origin materials [or processing aids] in its composition.”
Owen Donald of Celtic Chemicals: “None of our products are derived from animal ingredients [or have] animal-derived processing aids involved in their manufacture.”
Additional Information:
Code of Federal Regulations
Classification: Vegan
Entry Added: May 2025

For more ingredient entries, see https://www.vrg.org/ingredients/index.php

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