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Specialty Minerals Calcium Carbonates For Foods, Nutritional Supplements, Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products

The uses for calcium carbonate in foods, dietary supplements, antacids, other pharmaceuticals, and personal care products are almost countless. The diversity of forms, each with different performance requirements, makes it difficult for a formulator to use a single calcium carbonate for all products.

The formulator’s job is made easier by the wide variety of calcium carbonate products manufactured in the United States and in the United Kingdom by Specialty Minerals Inc. (SMI). Ranges of food and pharmaceutical grades of precipitated calcium carbonates (PCCs) and ground calcium carbonates (GCCs) are available in different particle sizes and particle shapes. This variety gives the product developer great formulating flexibility. 

The right choice of Specialty Minerals calcium carbonate grade can give your product the high level of calcium you want, and the excellent physical and sensory properties consumers demand.


Specialty Minerals Families of Calcium Carbonates 
Among the 28 precipitated and ground calcium carbonates will be one or more that will allow you to optimize the properties and performance of the particular type of food, nutritional supplement, pharmaceutical or personal care item to be manufactured. Click on one of the family names to get more information on those products.

  • CalEssence® PCCs—a family of six ultra-low lead products, which range in size from 0.7 microns to 12 microns. Lead content is less than 125 parts per billion (ppb), especially helpful for meeting California Proposition 65 requirements in high dosage products. These meet all of the requirements of the U. S. Pharmacopeia (USP) and the Food Chemicals Codex (FCC). They are manufactured in Adams, Massachusetts in the U.S. and are available for export around the world.
  • ViCALity® PCCs—a family of eight low-lead products, also ranging from 0.7 to 12 microns in size. These can also be used where California Proposition 65 is of concern, as lead levels are below 500 ppb. They also meet USP and FCC requirements. Availability is world-wide from the Adams facility.
  • Sturcal™ PCCs—three precipitated calcium carbonates, 2.8 to 6.0 microns in size.  They meet the requirements of the European Pharmacopeia (EP), British Pharmacopeia (BP) and the EU Miscellaneous Food Regulations E170i, and on request can be certified as meeting those of the USP and FCC, as well. The Sturcal PCC grades are manufactured in Birmingham, U.K. and are also available for export.
  • Calopake™ PCCs—three high surface area scalenohedral precipitated calcium carbonates, similar to two of the ViCALity PCC grades, made in the U.K. for world-wide use.
  • Multifex-MM® USP and Calofort® U PCCs—unique 0.07 micron nano ultrafine precipitated calcium carbonates. They are manufactured in the U.K and are available in the U.S. and Asia-Pacific region as Multifex-MM USP PCC, and in Europe and the rest of the world as Calofort U PCC.
  • ViCALity® GF and ViCALity® HP USP GCCs—Both of these USP GCC products meet California Proposition 65 requirements.  ViCALity® GF has a lead level of less than 300 ppb lead, while ViCALity® HP is of higher purity at less than 125 ppb lead.  These economical grades are suitable for food applications and allow the manufacture of products meeting California Proposition 65 as well as USP and FCC requirements. 
  • Food Grade Vicron® GCCs—five food grade limestones, meeting the Food Chemicals Codex  requirements for limestone. Manufactured in Adams, Massachusetts, they come in particle sizes from 3.5 to 17 microns. Food grade limestones are used in chewing gum, pet foods, food processing and other less demanding applications.

All of Specialty Minerals calcium carbonates are made in plants registered as Drug Manufacturing Facilities with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and which follow Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). All products are certified as Kosher.  The Adams plant is also AIB (American Institute of Baking) certified. Each of these plants are also ISO 9000 quality certified.


Choosing the Right Grade of Specialty Minerals Calcium Carbonate
To further help you decide exactly which grades from these families of high quality precipitated and ground calcium carbonates and ground limestones manufactured by Specialty Minerals to use, we have grouped them by physical size and shape. To see these groups, and the applications selector chart that will guide you to the best Specialty Minerals calcium carbonates to test, click here.

 

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