Sorbitol Powder E420 for Chewable Vitamin Tablets, 20-60 Mesh Free-Flowing Non-Caking, 25kg Kraft Bag, Manufacturer

Sorbitol Powder E420, 20-60 Mesh — the bulk of a chewable tablet, and its sweetness

A chewable vitamin tablet is mostly not vitamin. Somewhere between half and three quarters of the tablet weight is a polyol that has to do four things at once: fill the die, carry a clean sweetness, survive compression without turning chalky, and stay stable on a warehouse shelf in a humid country. This grade is aimed at that job.

Sorbitol Powder (D-Glucitol), food grade E 420 (i) / INS 420, CAS 50-70-4. White crystalline powder, 20-60 mesh as standard, free-flowing and non-caking in normal storage. Sweetness is roughly 50 to 60 percent of sucrose with a mild cooling note. Packed 25 kg kraft paper bag with food-grade PE inner liner, unprinted. Produced in an ISO 9001 and ISO 22000 plant, Halal and Kosher certified.

Match the mesh to your process, not the other way round

Mesh is the first thing to fix, because it decides how the powder behaves before it ever reaches the die.

We hold 20-60 as standard and supply 40-120, 60-80, 80-120, 100 and 80-400 mesh from the same plant. If your specification calls for a cut we do not list, send the sieve range and we will confirm what is achievable.

On the press: what to expect from this material

It deforms plastically. Sorbitol compacts by plastic flow rather than brittle fracture, so tablets form at moderate compression force and come out with the slightly soft, non-chalky bite a chewable needs. Tablets that are too hard to chew usually trace back to compression force and lubricant level, not to the polyol.

It is hygroscopic, and it will tell you. Above roughly 60 percent relative humidity the powder in the hopper picks up moisture and tablets waiting for packing start to sweat. This is the single most common cause of sticking, caking and hardness drift on a sorbitol line. Control press-room humidity and keep opened bags sealed between shifts. In dry conditions the opposite risk appears: tablets can become brittle and chip at the edge.

It is non-reducing. Unlike glucose or invert sugar based diluents, sorbitol carries no free aldehyde group, so it does not take part in Maillard browning with amine-containing actives, flavours or coatings. Colour drift over shelf life is easier to hold.

It cools on dissolution. The cooling sensation comes from its heat of solution. In mint, eucalyptus and menthol systems that reads as freshness; in neutral or dairy flavours it can read as an off-note. Taste it in your own flavour system before you commit.

It is sweet, but not as sweet as sugar. At 50 to 60 percent of sucrose, a 1 g chewable carries mild sweetness rather than a candy-level one. Most formulators top up with a high-intensity sweetener rather than adding more sorbitol, because more sorbitol also means more bulk and a softer bite.

Trial starting points

These are starting points for a pilot batch, not a fixed recipe. Your active, flavour system and target tablet weight will move them.

Where sorbitol is the wrong choice

We would rather you knew this before a trial batch than after.

Very high actives in a small tablet.

• If a 200 mg tablet has to carry 100 mg of active, mannitol's higher density and compressibility buy you room that sorbitol does not.

Zero moisture pickup is critical.

• Mannitol is markedly less hygroscopic. In tropical packing lines with no humidity control, that difference matters.

You need sugar-level sweetness.

• Maltitol brings roughly 90 percent of sucrose sweetness; sorbitol does not.

"Calorie-free" positioning.

• Sorbitol is a polyol and carries energy. Under EU labelling rules polyols are assigned about 2.4 kcal/g, and products containing more than 10 percent polyols carry a laxative-effect statement. Sugar-free, yes; calorie-free, no.

Sorbitol, mannitol, maltitol — a short comparison for chewables

Many commercial chewables use a blend rather than a single polyol: sorbitol for bulk and sweetness, mannitol where dose or humidity demands it. We supply all three from the same plant, so a blend trial does not mean two suppliers and two document sets.

Packing, documents and lead time

Questions buyers actually ask

Can sorbitol be the only diluent? For chewable vitamins and supplements, usually yes. Above a certain active load you will want mannitol in the blend for compression and moisture reasons — that is a formulation call, and we will say so rather than sell you a single polyol.

Why do my tablets get sticky in summer? Almost always humidity in the press room or in open bags, not the batch. Check RH first, then lubricant level.

Can you send a sample before we commit to a container? Yes. Samples ship with the matching Certificate of Analysis, so your trial and your paperwork start from the same batch.

Is it non-GMO and allergen-free? The material is produced from glucose by catalytic hydrogenation. We can supply a non-GMO statement and an allergen statement for your market on request; confirm the wording your destination requires.

Do you supply the pharmacopoeial grades too? Food grade E 420 (i) meeting the FCC, BP, USP and EP monographs is standard. Cosmetic and pharmacopoeial grades come off the same line; tell us the monograph and the intended use and we will confirm the grade.

What to send us for a quotation

Tablet weight, active dose, process (direct compression or wet granulation), mesh range, packing preference and destination port. With those five lines we can quote a grade that fits, not just a price per tonne.