Emulsifiers: an indispensable role in the food industry

At present, the market demand for emulsifiers is rising, and the research on food emulsifiers has become a hot spot

Food emulsifiers are active substances that uniformly form dispersions of two or more immiscible phases (such as oil and water) by physical methods

Emulsifier is an indispensable component to promote the stability of emulsion and plays an important role in the stability of emulsion

The emulsifier molecule generally contains hydrophilic and lipophilic groups, which determine the hydrophilicity and lipophilicity of the emulsifier

There are dozens of food emulsifiers commonly used in China, and different emulsifiers can be selected according to different purposes

Application in vegetable artificial cream Vegetable cream is made of vegetable oil as the main raw material, plus other ingredients.

Hydrogenated vegetable oil is solid at room temperature, has good taste and good plasticity, and has texture properties similar to milk fat.

Application in candy and chocolate Some common candies, such as butterscotch, toffee and chocolate, contain a lot of oil, and emulsifiers (such as molecular distilled monoglycerides) are added during processing to emulsify the oil in candy, Make oil and other substances form an emulsification system, prevent the separation of candy oil, stabilize the shape of candy, inhibit the crystallization of oil in chocolate, and improve the taste of chocolate and candy

The application of emulsifier in ice cream can make the oil molecules in ice cream uniform and evenly distributed, effectively prevent the formation of ice crystals in ice cream, which will affect the delicate taste of the product and improve the stability of the emulsion

Application in beverages Some beverages (such as soy milk, peanut milk, cocoa milk, etc.

Emulsifiers used in beverages should meet the following basic conditions: safety, acid resistance, good hydrolysis, ethanol resistance and high HLB value

Application in meat products In many meat products, the application of food emulsifiers is also very common, such as soybean protein and serum protein

Application in fermented food The production of bread and cakes generally requires fermentation.

(Han Tianlong and Zhang Xiu) 

　　"China Food News" (06 edition on June 7, 2021)

(Editor-in-charge: Yang Xiaojing)