Affiliation:
1. Key Laboratory of Bio-based Material Science and Technology (Ministry of Education) Northeast Forestry University Harbin 150040 P.R. China long.bai@nefu.edu.cn liushouxin@nefu.edu.cn
2. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Tianjin University of Science and Technology Tianjin 300457 P.R. China
3. Department of Food Science University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst Massachusetts 01003 USA
4. Bioproducts Institute, Departments of Chemical & Biological Engineering, Chemistry, and Wood Science The University of British Columbia Vancouver British Columbia V6T 1Z3 Canada
Abstract
Emulsion technology has been used for decades in the food industry to create a diverse range of products. Recently, however, innovations in emulsion science and technology have led to the development of new approaches to improving food quality and functionality. This chapter provides an overview of an advanced emulsion technology, i.e. Pickering emulsions, that has garnered a great deal of interest from researchers in recent years. Pickering emulsions are stabilized by colloidal particles, which may be synthetic or natural, rather than conventional molecular emulsifiers. The stabilization mechanisms involved are fundamentally different to those of conventional emulsifiers, which leads to novel properties in Pickering emulsions, such as strong resistance to coalescence. Much of the early research on Pickering emulsions used inorganic solid particles as stabilizers, but recently there has been a growing focus on the use of organic particles, which are more label friendly. This chapter also discusses the latest advances in the application of Pickering emulsions in the food industry, including their potential benefits and limitations, as well as future research trends.
Publisher
The Royal Society of Chemistry