Page 55 - FoodFocusThailand No.187 October 2021

STRATEGIC R&D
STRATEGIC R&D

Texture Modifiers

from Pomelo Albedo

Food industry is facing an uphill battle to
deal with the continued rise in the World’s
population. The challenge is not only on the
increasing demand of food consumption but
also the production of high quality foods and
healthful food formulations for health-conscious
consumers. In addition, food production
processes must also change and adapt to
environmentally friendly production practice in superb emulsifying property. However, the pectin from both sources has been limited in
the future. This is to minimize the potential industrial use since they are still in the development process at the laboratory level.
impact on the environment and also to Pectin is considered one of the most structurally complex hydrocolloid and its exact
conserve the current ecosystem. One of the chemical structure is still under debate due to the high complexity of this molecule. However,
potential ways to overcome these challenges it can be said that pectin is a heteropolysaccharide in which its structure can be viewed as
is to utilize and create value to agricultural a “multi-block copolymer” consisting of three components; namely, Homogalactoronan (HG),
by-products in order to achieve sustainability Rhamnogalactoronan I (RG-I), and Rhamnogalactoronan II (RG-II), as shown in Figure 1.
in food production. In the past, there has been HG is the most common structure in pectin. It is a linear polymer of D-galacturonic acid
a continuous improvement to convert disposed (GalA) linked together with a- (1,4) glycosidic linkages. Some carboxyl groups (-COOH) of
materials in food processing and production. GalA could be methylated (-COOCH ). Hydroxyl groups at O-2 or O-3 (the 2 or 3 oxygen
nd
rd
For instance, a number of waste streams of position) of some GalA can be substituted with acetyl groups (CH CO-), as shown in Figure 1.
3
food processing have been utilized to extract The amount of methoxyl and acetyl groups attached to the pectin chain, known as Degree
3
hydrocolloids, e.g., peels or pomace from juice
processing, okara from tofu processing, or bran
or hulls from cereal and oilseed processing
Moreover, novel hydrocolloids from
agricultural by-products, which are essentially
cell wall materials, have also been developed
and exploited for their inherent health benefits
and other physiological effects as they contain
reasonable amount of dietary fiber. These
hydrocolloids include flaxseed gum, psyllium,
chia seeds, tara gum, and corn fiber gum.
In general, hydrocolloids are classified as
food additives. They can have a wide range of
functions in food products, i.e., thickener,
gelling agent, texture modifier, mouthfeel
improver, or stabilizer, etc. For Thailand,
hydrocolloids used in the food industry is mostly
imported in a great volume with relatively high
price as we are lacking technological know-
how to produce these food additives, except
the modified starch.
Pectin is one of the most common and
important hydrocolloids used in commercials
such as food & beverage and medical
industries. According to the report, pectin
consumption was beyond 60,000 tons a year
or with the market value over $1 billion annually.
Commercial pectin is generally produced from
citrus fruits and apple pomace, which are
by-products from the fruit juice industry
overseas. In addition, there are other
commercial pectins produced from sugar beet
and okra, which have been known for their

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