Biopolymers and creation of structure

Abstract

Many biopolymers are used in the foods and drinks industry to texturize or stabilize the process-induced structure of food. The impact of biopolymers on the food structure is evidently mirrored in the mechanical properties of the product, but for a better understanding of the structuring mechanism, the rheological characterization of biopolymers and formulations is more and more reported together with the structural characterization. In this presentation, selected rheological concepts and experiments focusing on the viscoelastic characterization of viscous solutions and soft solids will be recalled and applied to two specific studies. The first one deals with the characterization of hybrid carrageenan extracted from seaweeds cultivated in aquaculture and which show gelling behavior. Rheology will be used to address the following topics: how long can we store the seaweeds without altering the gelling properties of the hybrid carrageenan and what is the impact of aquaculture on the gelling properties [1,2]. The second study is a case study where a formulation for the production of a sugar-free pudding will be tested: the viscoelastic properties of the sugar-free formulation will be benchmarked with a commercial one, and the pudding rheological properties eventually compared.