Specialty Lipids
1 ingredient from 1 Chinese manufacturers
The listing is narrow and centres on conjugated linoleic acid, sold as CLA. It is not extracted but made by alkali isomerisation of the linoleic acid in safflower or sunflower oil, which shifts the position of the double bonds and produces a mixture of isomers. Two of them matter, c9,t11 and t10,c12, and most commercial material is balanced close to equal parts of the pair.
That isomer ratio, alongside total conjugated linoleic acid content, is what distinguishes one offer from another, and a total figure on its own does not describe the product. Form is the second axis. The free fatty acid version is the most concentrated, the triglyceride version is preferred where taste and stability matter, and powdered versions are the oil spray dried onto a carrier at a much lower active level. As a polyunsaturated oil it oxidises, so peroxide value and packing under nitrogen are relevant.
Sourcing from China
Production sits with a small number of oleochemical plants, mainly in Shandong, Jiangsu and Hubei, working from imported safflower and sunflower oil, so feedstock cost rather than local capacity drives the price. Because the process creates trans double bonds by design, the analysis should separate the wanted isomers from other trans material, which matters for labelling in several markets. A gas chromatography isomer profile, peroxide and anisidine values and confirmation of nitrogen packing are the useful requests.
