Modification of Gels in Creating New Food Products (2nd Edition)

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue “Modification of Gels in Creating New Food Products (2nd Edition)” in the journal Gels is dedicated to providing a comprehensive collection of recent advances in the field of food gels. Gels, being a semi-solid colloidal or polymer network, have various applications in food. Their properties and the various possibilities and options for their usage depend on the interactions between their components, mechanisms, or conditions of gelation. The properties of gels can also be modified by polymer concentration, temperature, pH, or ionic strength. The fact that many factors influence the characteristics of gels in food systems makes it possible to adapt their properties to the type of food product. Recent research on food gels focuses on the application of natural plant-origin polysaccharides or proteins as polymer components, the investigation of the gel formation mechanism, their properties, and their stability. New analytical methods are also being developed to study gels in food systems. By the act of creating new food products, producers are attempting to fulfill consumers’ requests and requirements. Thanks to their ability to immobilize large amounts of water, their low calorie density, appealing taste, and society-enhancing properties, gels are good materials for novel, functional food production. They can be some of the most in-demand low-calorie, pro-healthy, sustainable, and zero-waste foods. Therefore, in the field of new product development, gels can play the following important roles: they are novel, biocompatible, biodegradable, edible encapsulation materials; delivery agents for bioactive compounds; products that control digestive or retention properties; and even substrates for 3D printing. Edible gels also have potential application in smart packaging, including biosensor-based packaging.

About the first edition, it publishes 11 papers, which you can find it at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/gels/special_issues/IZ48E18281.

The second edition of this Special Issue still aims to present the research on the recent advances in novel food gels created by using novel ingredients and innovative methods of gel induction, as well as new methods for analyzing the properties of gels or products made with food gels.

Dr. Anna Florowska
Dr. Tomasz Florowski
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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