Food Stabilizer:

Stabilizers or texturing agents are food additives used in the greatest total quantity. Starches, emulsifiers and gums are the primary ingredients in this category. The purpose of these food additives is to maintain consistent texture, maintain the uniform dispersion of substances in solid and semi-solid foods and to prevent the separation of oil and water in layers.

Starches

• Starches in their native or modified form are used extensively in the food industry.
• They are relatively inexpensive and easily available.
• Most starches are extracted from corn, wheat, sorghum, rice, potatoes and tapioca and the character of the starch depends on its source.
• Modifications such as cross-linking allow the starches to perform better under numerous adverse conditions such as extreme pH, temperature, physical abuse and interactions with other ingredients.
• Pre-gelatinized starches have the same behavioural patterns of cook-up starched but swell in cold water.Their applications include salad dressings and desserts.

Emulsifiers

• The major function is to assist the stabilization and formation of food emulsions and reduce surface tension at the oil-water interface.
• The most common examples of emulsions are mayonnaise and margarine.
• Monoglycerides and diglycerides are very often used as emulsifiers in margarine, ice-cream and baked goods.
• Lecithin is a naturally occuring emulsifier widely used in margarines, sauces, gravies and confections. It is also the emulsifying component in eggs which are used in mayonnaise and baked goods.
• Polysorbate 60 is used in salad dressings and sauces while polysorbate 80 is contained in flavour emulsion.

Gums

• Gums are edible polymeric materials that are soluble or dispersible in water and provide some properties in food system such as thickening, gelling, suspending, emulsifying, stabilizing and film-forming.
• They are effectively primarily in oil-water emulsions, usually used at relatively low concentration (0.1-2.0%) and have varied tolerances to pH, salt and processing conditions.
• Many gums are difficult to disperse directly into water. So, it is advisable to use sugar or some other powdered ingredient in the formulation as a dispersing agent.
• Xanthan gum is the most widely used gums in the food industry. It is effective in very low concentration and quite tolerant to many processing and storage conditions which is used for emulsion stability in salad dressings, uniform viscosity in sauces and gravies and suspension of solids in toppings and beverages.