Research: Quest for Natural Emulsifiers

“Clean label”, the industry term used to describe the consumer demand for minimally processed food and beverage products containing natural ingredients, remains one of the industry’s hottest trends.

By Dr. Pretima Titoria, Leatherhead Food Research

The use of clean label ingredients presents numerous challenges for any food/drink developer, since substituting a synthetic ingredient with a natural equivalent may alter the texture of the product, cause formulation issues and reduce the shelf life of the finished product.

Where substitution is concerned, particular care and attention need to be taken with products formed from emulsions (mixtures of two liquids that are normally immiscible, for example, oil and water). An emulsion, such as a mayonnaise or a salad dressing, can be very unstable due to its inherent tendency to separate over time. To overcome this issue, emulsifiers are added as a stabilizer.

Finding suitable clean label emulsifiers has proved a particular challenge for the industry. The fact that chemical or synthetic emulsifiers still account for 67% of global market volume (Leatherhead Food Research (2014). The Global Food Additives Market – 6th edition) is testimony to the difficulty in finding suitable natural emulsifiers. To date, natural emulsifiers have simply not been found to be as effective and versatile as their synthetic counterparts, as these need to be used together with other ingredients in order to emulsify effectively. However, as there is more innovation and research taking place in this field, the proportion of synthetic emulsifiers being used is decreasing year on year.

Testing the performance of natural emulsifiers

Leatherhead has carried out extensive research into the emulsifying properties of a range of natural ingredients in powder form, including pulses, nuts, fibers, seed flours and cereals. All the ingredients evaluated were plant-derived and traditionally or minimally processed (i.e., the materials have only been subjected to milling and/or heat treatment), meaning that they can be considered as clean or natural for labeling purposes.

These ingredients were added to a simple oil and water mixture to understand how well they performed as an emulsifier. Their functionality was assessed by microscopy in order to evaluate the sizes of the emulsified oil droplets. Those which produced smaller oil droplets and retained that small size over time were assessed as being a more successful emulsifier than those producing larger oil droplets. Each of the ingredients was also evaluated on their stability over time at room temperature – a visual inspection looked for evidence of sedimentation, syneresis (release of water contained within the emulsion) and creaming (oil migration to the top of the emulsion due to its lower density).

Natural emulsifiers to watch

A number of materials presented acceptable emulsification performances, namely, cocoa powder, cocoa fiber, pea fiber, peanut flour, rice flour and mustard flour. These ingredients could potentially be used as clean label emulsifiers in a wide range of food and beverage products, which manufacturers want to position as ‘natural’.

The quest for natural ingredients, such as emulsifiers, which offer good functionality, while meeting this consumer need, remains a key priority for the industry. The results from Leatherhead’s research is valuable for product developers struggling to find natural alternatives to synthetic emulsifiers. Leatherhead is only a phone call away to discuss the findings from this research in more depth or help you with your clean label questions.

You can read more in our print magazine European Baker & Biscuit (Nov/Dec 2016)!