Is Magnesium Chloride (E511) Vegan?

Soy milk sets into tofu when a coagulant destabilizes its proteins and lets them knit into a curd. Two mineral salts dominate. Magnesium chloride is called nigari, and calcium sulfate is called gypsum. Glucono delta-lactone (E575) is a third option used for silken tofu. Nigari acts fast and gives a curd with a fine texture, a clean flavor, and a slight sweetness.

Gypsum acts more slowly, yields firmer and higher-volume tofu, and adds a useful amount of calcium, which is why calcium-fortified tofu usually names calcium sulfate. For a vegan shopper the practical point is that neither coagulant raises a question. Tofu is soybeans, water, and a mineral salt, and there is no animal-derived setting agent in commercial tofu production.

Magnesium chloride is sold as a supplement in tablets, liquids, and topical oils and flakes. Absorption of the chloride form is generally rated as good, better than magnesium oxide, which carries more elemental magnesium per gram but dissolves poorly. Claims for transdermal magnesium, absorbed through the skin from sprays and bath flakes, rest on limited evidence, and the digestive route remains the reliable one.

Large oral doses have a laxative effect. Epsom salts work by the same mechanism. Outside food and supplements, the compound de-ices roads and suppresses dust on unpaved surfaces, and brewers use it to adjust water chemistry. Same mineral, same origin, no animal involvement in any of it.