Lecithins

Lecithin was discovered in 1846 by the French chemist Maurice Gobley. He isolated an orange-colored substance from egg yolk and called it lecithin after the Greek name for egg-yolk ("lekithos").

The industrial production of lecithin started in the nineteen-twenties when the Bollmann extraction process enabled large quantities of lecithin to be obtained from soybeans instead of eggs. This paved the way for the production of various lecithins of different plant origins for a wide variety of uses.

Cargill started to work with lecithin more than 70 years ago. A wealth of specialised experience gives Cargill a thorough knowledge of the characteristic properties of the constituents of lecithin, the individual application requirements of a broad spectrum of industries and the wide range of available processes and technologies.