Yeast MOS and yeast beta-glucan: two cell-wall fractions, not one

The yeast cell wall carries both mannoproteins and glucans. When it is processed into a functional ingredient, those become the two fractions that specifications are normally written against: mannan oligosaccharides (MOS) and beta-glucan. They are not two names for the same thing, and a product can be strong in one and modest in the other.

CelluGuard™ Yeast Cell Wall is the clearest illustration, because it declares both on a dry basis: beta-glucan ≥ 35.0%, mannan ≥ 25.0% and MOS ≥ 15.0%, plus moisture ≤ 6.0%.

Where beta-glucan is the product rather than a component, the specification is written as a concentration and increasingly as a solubility. In the feed range, AquaGlucan™ Yeast β-1,3-D-Glucan is supplied in three standardized grades at ≥ 45%, ≥ 60% and ≥ 70%. In the food range, BetaGuard™ 70 declares beta-glucan ≥ 70% with protein ≤ 3.5% and ash ≤ 3% as an insoluble standard grade, while BetaGuard™ 80 declares ≥ 80% as a water-soluble, high-purity grade for liquid systems.

The solubility distinction is not cosmetic. An insoluble grade suits solid foods and general functional formulations; a soluble grade is what a beverage or a liquid system can actually carry.

MannoGuard™ Yeast MOS is supplied as five grades, and as the MOS content rises the beta-glucan content falls — because both are fractions of the same cell wall:

Declared values from the 2026 PANGOO data sheets and catalogs.

Crude protein is declared at 35.0% and moisture at 8.0% across all five grades, so those two values do not distinguish them.

YeastMatrix™ Water-Soluble Yeast Polysaccharides is specified as a water-soluble complex declaring yeast beta-glucan ≥ 20.0% and MOS ≥ 20.0% — a product for systems that need both fractions in a soluble form rather than a concentrated one.

Read together with CelluGuard™, that gives three distinct propositions: a cell-wall product with both fractions at moderate levels, a graded MOS product where the MOS percentage is the variable, and a soluble product where both are held at 20%.

This is the part most often misread when comparing quotations across products, because the numbers are expressed in different units and ranges:

Declared values from the 2026 PANGOO data sheets and catalogs.

Three questions settle most of it:

• Which fraction is being bought, and at what minimum — stated with its basis, since the data sheets declare these on a dry basis

• Whether the application can carry an insoluble material, or needs a soluble grade

• What the inclusion rate is expressed against, so a per-tonne figure is not compared with a percentage