The characterisation and producton of protein coated air-cells and their use supplementing whipped creams and emulsions

• Main Author: Green, Alistair John
• Published: University of Birmingham 2017
• Subjects: 664; TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.715596

Food, while it is essential for survival, is a dynamic and complex marketplace. The drive to be innovative and popular, combined with ever changing public perception and scientific knowledge, makes the food industry fascinating. One of the recent trends, including sugar and salt, has been the reduction of fat in our diets. However, consumers like to treat themselves and fatty foods give a pleasurable eating experience. These two things are often at odds. This work focusses on the development and use of a novel fat replacement technology known as air filled emulsions (AFEs) as a substitute for the function, both structurally and organoleptically, of the fats present within emulsion products. AFEs are micron sized pockets of air coated in a protective protein coat. This work demonstrates that they can be produced reliably at kilogram scales with great potential for further scale-up. This work successfully supplemented emulsions with AFEs and demonstrated the possibility of reducing the fat concentration by over 45%. AFE substitution also had the advantage of significantly improved resistance to separation.