Citrus Fibre – VITACEL®

Delivering excellent water-holding, texturising and stabilisation performance while supporting clean-label formulations.

Calleva Ingredients proudly offers VITACEL® Citrus Fibre from JRS Silvateam Ingredients, bringing a clean-label and highly functional plant-based ingredient to food and beverage manufacturers across the UK & Ireland. Through our partnership, we combine JRS Silvateam Ingredients’ expertise in citrus-based ingredients with local technical support to help you meet growing demand for sustainability, functionality and label simplicity.

What Is Citrus Fibre?

Citrus fibre is a natural, plant-based dietary fibre produced by upcycling partially depectinised citrus peels — the byproduct of pectin production — into a highly functional ingredient. Marketed under the VITACEL® brand, this citrus fibre delivers excellent water-holding, texturising and stabilisation performance while supporting clean-label formulations. As it is declared as an ingredient under Regulation (EC) No. 1333/2008, citrus fibre is E-number free.

Sustainability Through Circular Economy

VITACEL® Citrus fibre is a clear example of circular innovation. Historically, depectinised citrus peels were used only as animal feed or biomass. Today, JRS Silvateam Ingredients transforms up to 90% of this material into a high-value functional ingredient containing a minimum of 85% fibre, both insoluble (cellulose and hemicellulose) and soluble (pectin), alongside naturally occurring proteins and minerals. This circular approach reduces waste, improves resource efficiency and adds nutritional value to finished products.

How Citrus Fibre Works

Citrus fibre exhibits one of the highest water-binding capacities among plant-based fibres, capable of binding a minimum of 20g of water per gram of fibre. When activated under shear—such as high-speed mixing or homogenisation—the microfibrils swell, trapping water through hydrogen bonding. This mechanism builds texture, viscosity, stability and moisture retention, even under mechanical stress, making citrus fibre highly effective across a wide range of applications.

Key Benefits

VITACEL® citrus fibre offers:

Exceptional water-holding capacity — supports moisture retention and yield
Cold-swelling functionality — effective without heat activation
Thickening and gelling support — improves body, texture and viscosity
Clean-label ingredient — E-number free and consumer-friendly
Excellent source of dietary fibre — supports nutritional positioning
Suitable for low-sugar and low-fat formulations — restores structure, viscosity and mouthfeel

Product Range

The citrus fibre portfolio includes VITACEL® 312 and VITACEL® 312 F, offering identical functionality with variation in particle size to support different textural and processing requirements.

Applications

Thanks to its versatile performance, VITACEL® is used across a wide range of food and beverage systems, including:

Bakery — fillings, coatings, doughs and moisture control
Beverages — fruit drinks and particle suspension systems
Dairy & dairy alternatives — yoghurts, desserts and cheese applications
Condiments & sauces — texture building, stability and mouthfeel
Confectionery — stabilised sweets and bar systems
Meat & plant protein products — moisture retention and texture enhancement

Why Partner with Calleva Ingredients?

As the UK & Ireland distributor for JRS Silvateam Ingredients, Calleva Ingredients offers more than ingredient supply. We work closely with your development teams to optimise formulations, tailor solutions to your process requirements and support development, scale-up and launch. Whether you’re improving texture, increasing fibre content or solving stability challenges, our technical team is here to help.