Emulsifiers in Food Technology || Lecithins

✍ Scribed by Whitehurst, Robert J.

• Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 401 KB
• Edition: 1
• Category: Article
• ISBN: 1405118024
• DOI: 10.1002/9780470995747.ch1

✦ Synopsis

Lecithins are among the most widely used emulsifiers in the food industry. However, although used in a vast variety of applications, it is difficult to find systematic data about the emulsification and application properties of lecithin. For the user of lecithin, this information should be of specific interest, as lecithin is not a uniform, standard material but a natural mixture of a series of surfaceactive components that are contributing to the overall emulsifying performance.

In addition, there is a wide variety of materials that, according to legislation, are called 'lecithin' but vary significantly in their composition and thereby functionality. And the term 'lecithin' might have a substantially different meaning within commercial and food legislational areas from that within the chemistry literature (see Section 1.1).

This chapter therefore will provide a comprehensive overview of all aspects of commercial lecithins -their sources, composition and chemistry, analytical and quality considerations, the types and functionalities, as well as key and potential applications.