Abstract
Food manufacturers are interested in developing emulsion-based products into nutritional foods by using beneficial oils, such as fish oil and virgin coconut oil (VCO). In this study, the physicochemical properties of a VCO oil-in-water emulsion was investigated and compared to other commercial oil-in-water emulsion products (C1, C2, C3, and C4). C3 exhibited the smallest droplet size of 3.25 µm. The pH for the emulsion samples ranged from 2.52 to 4.38 and thus were categorised as acidic. In a texture analysis, C2 was described as the most firm, very adhesive and cohesive, as well as having high compressibility properties. From a rheological viewpoint, all the emulsion samples exhibited non-Newtonian behaviour, which manifested as a shear-thinning property. The G'G'' crossover illustrated by the VCO emulsion in the amplitude sweep graph but not the other commercial samples illustrated that the VCO emulsion had a better mouthfeel. In this context, the VCO emulsion yielded the highest zeta potential (64.86 mV), which was attributed to its strong repulsive forces, leading to a good dispersion system. C2 comprised the highest percentage of fat among all emulsion samples, followed by the VCO emulsion, with 18.44% and 6.59%, respectively.
Highlights
IntroductionAn emulsion is a thermodynamically unstable system, and it forms the basis of many food products [1]
An emulsion is a thermodynamically unstable system, and it forms the basis of many food products [1].The emulsion's stability is very important for ensuring its quality
A small droplet size was favoured in emulsions because the decrease in droplet size would reduce the number of lipid molecules per droplet and, thereby, increase the amount of surface-active compounds adsorbed at the interface, exhibiting greater physical stability
Summary
An emulsion is a thermodynamically unstable system, and it forms the basis of many food products [1]. The emulsion's stability is very important for ensuring its quality This property is a chronic problem for many industries, and the stability factor is sometimes affected by the physicochemical characteristics of the gums added during the aqueous phase. Few aspects are important to determine the stability of the emulsion, such as the amount of emulsifiers used to produce the emulsion, oil-to-emulsifier ratio, the mobility of oil droplets, and the interactions among the emulsion components at the interface. Few factors such as pH, temperature, and processing conditions are found to be directly influencing the stability of the emulsion [5]. Various tests were performed on the emulsions, namely, a droplet size distribution profile, pH analysis, texture analysis, rheological analysis, microscopic observation, zeta potential analysis, and proximate analysis to gauge their quality
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