What do toothpaste and ice cream have in common? And then you burst into a laughter thinking how could that be? Or you turn perplexed by the thought of associating a toothpaste to an ice cream.

Perhaps most of us don’t know that almost all processed foods and cosmetics we use everyday have, at least, shared the same common ingredient that beer and infant formula do. Then you derisively ask what?

For the record, and to the curious, the foamy San Miguel beer, the Dento toothpaste, your favorite Selecta icer cream, the Lactum infant formula, the Revicon max capsule, the hair styling gel, all have the same edible factor - the carageenan. It is a natural substance extracted from, yes, the common red algae (guso) that we usually eat pickled. Carageenan has a natural gelling, suspending, thickening, or water-holding properties that acts as emulsifiers to numerous chemical processes in various applications such as in food and pharmaceutical industries.

The Philippines, particularly Cebu, is now the world’s largest producer and supplier of both refined and semi-refined carageenan supplying more than 70% of the global demand. Prior to the closure of FMC BioPolymer’s refined carrageenan manufacturing plant in Denmark, Shemberg Corp. was the second biggest supplier of refined carageenan.

Seaweed Industry Association of the Philippines public affairs director Pete Borja said Shemberg Corp., which comprises Shemberg Marketing Corp. in Mandaue City, Shemberg Biotech Corp. in Carmen and Polysaccharide Corp. in Mandaue City, is one of the very few remaining manufacturers of refined carrageenan in the world.

According to statistics, the annual global demand for carageenan is estimated at 220,000 metric tons, but the supply is only pegged at 170,800 metric tons or 78 percent of world demand.

The Philippines accounts for 127,000 metric tons or 74 percent of total supply. The rest comes from Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Tanzania.