Functional characterization of protein stabilized emulsions: Emulsifying behaviour of proteins in a valve homogenizer

Abstract

AbstractProtein stabilised emulsions have been prepared in a valve homogeniser incorporated into a recirculating emulsification system, where the power input and number of passes have been varied. The food proteins studied were a soy‐bean protein isolate, a whey protein concentrate (WPC) and a sodium caseinate. The emulsions obtained were characterized in terms of particle size distribution and amount of protein adsorbed on to the fat surface (protein load). Generally, the final fat surface area of the emulsions obtained increases more as a function of power input than as a function of number of passes. Distribution width, cs, decreases mostly with increasing power supply and number of passes, but at the highest power input cs increases. The protein load on the fat globules is largely determined by the fat surface area and by the type of protein adsorbed. The soy proteins give a high protein load and the caseinates give a low protein adsorption at small fat surface areas created. This relation is reversed at large surface areas of the fat globules. The relation between percentage protein adsorbed from bulk as a function of surface area suggests that the caseinates mainly cover the newly created interface by adsorption from the bulk, whereas the soy proteins fulfil this task mostly by spreading at the interface. Salt addition to 0.2M‐NaCl enhances protein adsorption at the fat globule interface in the case of soy protein and caseinate, but for the whey proteins protein load is higher in distilled water.