Dr. Kurt Villwock, on behalf of Fiberstar will be representing a poster on “Microstructure of Dairy Emulsions Stabilized with Citrus Fiber” at the 3rd IDF Symposium on Microstructure of Dairy Products.

Dates: June 3-6, 2018
Location: Montreal, Canada

A trend that is continuing to grow in the dairy industry is driven by consumers who are demanding so-called clean label products. While dairy products as a segment enjoy a clean label image, more scrutiny has been put on any added emulsifiers in dairy systems because these ingredients often have chemical sounding names. Citrus fiber was found to be a strong alternative emulsifier and this project was conducted to help elucidate the mechanism of emulsification. It was found that, unlike traditional surfactant molecules that align in thin molecular layers around the surface of fat droplets, citrus fiber emulsifies at the particulate scale. It does not require strong mechanical forces to minimize droplet size because the fat is passively drawn to specific regions of the citrus fiber particle. This has been demonstrated here using confocal microscopy and fluorescent dye tracing strategies. The particles also have a strong water binding region which facilitates incorporation of the fat into aqueous products, completing the emulsion. Homogenization of dairy products containing citrus fiber will increase the surface area of the fiber, leading to greater access of the fat and water to bind with the fiber.

For more information, please contact Dr. Kurt Villwock, Ph.D. – k.villwock@fiberstar.net