Physicochemical and Functional Characteristics of Protein-Based Food Emulsions

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Physics and (Bio)Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2024 | Viewed by 361

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
College of Food Science, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Interests: egg products deep processing; food source based active packaging; food chemistry

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Food Science, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Interests: interaction of food components; nutrition and absorption of minerals; structural and functional properties of proteins

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Proteins are of great interest due to their amphiphilic nature, which allows them to reduce the interfacial tension at the oil–water interface. The incorporation of proteins at the oil–water interface has allowed scientists to utilise them to form emulsions (O/W or W/O), which may be used in food formulations, drugs, and nutrient delivery. Emulsions are defined as a dispersion of two or more immiscible liquids in which one of the liquids is dispersed in the other as small droplets (0.1–100 μm). Typically, in the food industry, emulsions are either oil-in-water (O/W) mixtures, in the case of milk, creams, salad dressings, mayonnaise, and soups, or water-in-oil (W/O) mixtures, in the case of margarine and butter. In more advanced systems, multiple emulsions (W/O/W or O/W/O) or nanoemulsions can be formed, which are particularly advantageous for targeted drug/nutraceutical delivery applications; therefore, the study of the physicochemical and functional characteristics of food emulsions and proteins is very important in the food industry.

Prof. Dr. Huajiang Zhang
Dr. Jing Wang
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • emulsions
  • protein
  • foods
  • characteristics
  • applications

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 2083 KiB  
Article
Physico-Chemical Characteristics of pH-Driven Active Film Loading with Curcumin Based on the Egg White Protein and Sodium Alginate Matrices
by Hanyu Li, Mengzhuo Liu, Xinyi Ju, Huajiang Zhang, Ning Xia, Jing Wang, Zhongjiang Wang and Ahmed M. Rayan
Foods 2024, 13(9), 1340; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13091340 - 26 Apr 2024
Viewed by 242
Abstract
The low solubility and stability of fat-soluble curcumin in water limit its application in active packaging. This study explored the use of a pH-driven method to investigate the preparation and enhancement of the performance of films loaded with curcumin in a matrix of [...] Read more.
The low solubility and stability of fat-soluble curcumin in water limit its application in active packaging. This study explored the use of a pH-driven method to investigate the preparation and enhancement of the performance of films loaded with curcumin in a matrix of sodium alginate (Alg) and egg white protein (EWP). In this study, the EWP, Alg, and curcumin primarily bind through hydrogen bonding, electrostatic interactions, and hydrophobic interactions. Compared to EWP films, the films loaded with curcumin through the pH-driven method exhibited enhanced extensibility and water resistance, with an elongation at break (EB) of 103.56 ± 3.13% and a water vapor permeability (WVP) of 1.67 ± 0.03 × 10−10 g·m/m2·Pa·s. The addition of Alg improved the encapsulation efficiency and thermal stability of curcumin, thereby enhancing the antioxidant activity of the film through the addition of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radicals, which resulted in 106.95 ± 2.61 μg TE/g and 144.44 ± 8.89 μg TE/g, respectively. It is noteworthy that the detrimental effect of Alg on the color responsiveness of films containing curcumin has also been observed. This study provides a potential strategy and consideration for the loading of low water-soluble active substances and the preparation of active packaging. Full article
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