Food additives: thickeners, stabilizers and gelling agents

One of the major food ingredients are that significantly controls the textural properties of foods is that of thickeners, stabilizers and gelling agents. They are the basic texturizing additives used in fruit processing.

The molecules used as thickeners, stabilizers and gelling agents are macromolecules which, when dissolved or dispersed in aqueous media are capable of causing an increase in the viscosity or gel formation.

Most commercial thickeners are polysaccharides, and it is the expanded nature of these high-molecular-weight molecules in solutions that gives rise to their thickening properties, even when used at relatively low concentrations.

Thickeners and stabilizers may be divided into main classes: polysaccharides and protein.

Polysaccharides comprise three main subclasses:
*Non-ionic - example: hydroxyethylcellulose and dextran
*Anionic - example: xanthan, carrageenan, guar gum, alginate and carboxymethylcellulose
*Cationic - such as: arginine hydrochloride and chitosan

Xanthan gum is a result of the fermentation of sugars by the bacteria Xanthamonas campestris. It’s also used as thickeners, stabilizers and gelling agents in the preparation of sauces, salad dressing and dairy products.

Pectin is mainly used as thickeners, stabilizers and gelling agents in jams, jellies and other products. They are found in fruits and vegetables and they help to hold the plant cells together.

Structurally, they are long-chain polymers of α -D-galactorunic acid, which is under appropriate condition they form gels.
Food additives: thickeners, stabilizers and gelling agents

The Philosophy of food additive

Foods are made entirely if substances that, in pure form, can be describe as chemicals or chemical compounds. It is important to note that our knowledge of the composition of foods, because of their complexity, is by no means complete.

For instance, it is reported that one of the most important of humans’ natural foods, human milk, contains several hundreds chemical compounds. Unfortunately, the interpretation of the word chemical is too often inaccurate.

Thus, some consumers are apprehensive about purchasing food that is preserve by treating it with a chemical which they are unfamiliar. However, a number of foods may be preserved with a table salt, which is a chemical.

Consumers are not apprehensive about using as a preservative, because they are familiar with it, at least for adding taste and sometimes for bringing out the flavor in foods, yet table salt is definitely a chemical, having the name, sodium chloride, and the formula, NACL. Refined sugar, vinegar, spices, and other substances that are routinely added to foods are also chemicals, or mixtures of chemicals, and we do not question the use of these, either.

The characteristics of chemicals that are used with confidence are:
1. Familiarity
2. Frequent use
The characteristics of chemicals that are rouse skepticism in consumers are that they are uncommon and unfamiliar.