Microcrystalline Wax
What it does
Glazing/coating.
How it's made
From refined petroleum.
Microcrystalline wax is a glazing and coating agent used to add gloss and a protective moisture barrier to confectionery and chewing gum, and as a component of coatings. Unlike the plant and insect waxes, it is derived from petroleum, but the food grade is a highly refined, inert material.
It is produced during the refining of crude oil. Heavy petroleum fractions are processed to separate out the waxes, and the microcrystalline fraction — made of fine, small crystals that make it more flexible and higher-melting than ordinary paraffin wax — is isolated, then extensively refined and purified.
The food-grade wax is treated to remove impurities and meet strict purity limits, giving a white to pale, odourless, tasteless wax. Being chemically very stable and unreactive, it is not absorbed by the body and is used purely as a surface glaze and moisture barrier in small amounts.
Possible reactions
Generally safe; food-grade only.