Sugar beet pectins for the formulation of dressings and soft drinks: Understanding the complexity of charged hydrocolloids in industrial food emulsions

The aim of this study was to set up formulation-process-property functions for sugar beet pectin stabilized emulsions under industrially relevant processing conditions to allow for a reformulation of foods and beverages using sugar beet pectins (SBP) as emulsifiers. Therefore, model food emulsions, soft drinks, and salad dressings were produced. Model emulsions were prepared at different pH values (3, 4, and 5) and varying SBP concentrations (0.25 wt% - 2 wt%). Subsequently, the emulsions were subjected to pasteurization or salt addition and their short- and long-term stability was assessed. It could be shown that the pectin-stabilized emulsions were more sensitive to salt addition than to heat treatment. However, any physical instabilities could be avoided by using higher amounts of SBP. Furthermore, it could be shown, that SBP are able to stabilize soft drinks (0.05 wt% orange oil) as well as low-fat salad dressings (10 wt% rapeseed oil) over the typically required storage time. SBP-stabilized soft drinks showed no significant changes in droplet size distributions, cloudiness, or color, even after pasteurization and 6 months of storage. In order to stabilize the salad dressings with a rather low SBP concentration (0.25 wt%), the viscosity of the samples had to be adjusted appropriately. Overall, SBP were shown to be highly suitable for use as emulsifiers in the food and beverage industry.

Automated summary

The aim of this study was to establish formulation-process-property functions for sugar beet pectin stabilized emulsions under industrially relevant processing conditions and demonstrate their suitability for use as emulsifiers in the food and beverage industry.