Influence of k-Carrageenan on Whey Protein Isolate Cold-Set Emulsion Filled Gel: A Rheological and Mechanical Study

Articles in Press

Document Type : Full Research Paper

Authors

• Mohammad Reza Salahi
• Seyed Mohammad Ali Razavi
• Mohebbat Mohebbi

Department of Food Science and Technology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22067/ifstrj.2023.81976.1251

Abstract

Introduction
 Emulsion-filled gel is a sort of gel system that traps oil droplets as a filler and contains a wide range of semi-solid to solid food products. It can also be utilized as a dual system to distribute and control the release of both lipophilic and hydrophilic bioactive and micronutrient substances. The main polymers involved in gel formation in food products are proteins and polysaccharides. Using molecular interactions between biopolymers, a wide range of rheological and physicochemical properties of gels can be methodically created. As a result, the interaction between proteins and polysaccharides has received a lot of attention in order to generate novel products. Because of their functional qualities and high nutritional value, whey proteins are frequently used in the food industry. As a result, mixed gels based on whey protein have gained a lot of attention. k-Carrageenan is commonly utilized in the food industry as a gelling and firming agent. Because k-Carrageenan, like whey protein isolate, can form a gel independently, its interaction with whey protein isolate in emulsion gel systems appears appealing. Therefore, in this study, the effect of k-Carrageenan gum (0.0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7%) on the textural (uniaxial compression test), rheological (steady shear, strain sweep, and frequency sweep tests), and water holding capacity of cold-set emulsion-filled gel based on whey protein isolate was investigated.
 
Materials and Methods
 Whey protein isolate (WPI) (98.9% protein, dry basis) was given as a gift by Agropur Ingredients Co. (Le Sueur, Minnesota, USA).  -Carrageenan and CaCl₂ ( : 147.01 gr/mol) were purchased from Sigma Aldrich Co. (USA) and Merck Co. (Darmstadt, Germany), respectively. Sunflower oil was supplied from local supermarket. Stock dispersions of WPI and -Carrageenan were prepared by dissolving sufficient amounts of their powders in deionized water. To prepare uniform oil in water emulsion, sunflower oil was added to the WPI dispersion and the obtained mixture homogenized first using a laboratory rotor-stator homogenizer (15000 rpm, 3 min), then by an ultrasonic homogenizer (20 kHz, 5 min). The prepared emulsion and -Carrageenan dispersions were poured into Schott bottles and heated in a water bath (90 °C, 40 min). WPI emulsion and AG dispersion were mixed in a cylindrical container on a stirring plate at a speed of 600 rpm for 6-8 min to obtain a homogeneous mixture. After decreasing the temperature to 60 °C for the ion-induced gelation, the mixtures were charged with CaCl₂ (10 mM). The prepared samples were incubated in a refrigerator overnight to stabilize the 3D network. The final mixed EFG samples contained 5.5% WPI, 20% oil, and 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7% (w/w) of k-carrageenan. The tests performed on emulsion-filled gel samples were: 1) steady shear (0.01-10 s^-1), 2) strain sweep (strain: 0.1-1000%, frequency: 1 Hz), 3) frequency sweep (frequency: 0.1-100 Hz, strain: 0.5%), 4) uniaxial compression (target strain: 80%, deformation speed:1 mm/s), and 5) water holding capacity (by utilizing a microcentrifuge, 600×g for 10 min).
 
Results and Discussion
 According to the results of steady shear test, all samples had a shear thinning behavior, and based on the power-law model, this behavior was intensified in the presence of k-Carrageenan; and with increasing the gum concentration from 0 to 0.7%, the consistency coefficient increased from 339.9 to 545.7 Pa.s. In the strain sweep test, with the increase in the gum concentration, the values of the elastic and viscous modulus in the linear region and the modulus at the crossover point increased, and tan d_LVE decreased from 0.17 to 0.13, which indicated an increase in the strength of the emulsion gel network structure. Based on the frequency sweep test, with the increase in k-Carrageenan concentration, the parameters  and , network strength and network expansion increased from 5311.8 Pa, 939.9 Pa, 1.5380 Pa.s^1/z and 10.05 in the control sample to  25080 Pa, 3574.9 Pa, 16097.7 Pa.s^1/z and 16.41 in the sample containing 0.7% k-Carrageenan, respectively. Moreover, the frequency dependency of elastic modulus decreased from 0.095 in the control sample to 0.050 in the 0.7% k-Carrageenan contained sample. According to the large deformation test, in general, in the composite emulsion-filled gels, the values of apparent modulus of elasticity and fracture stress were higher and fracture strain and fracture energy were lower than in the control sample. Also, the results showed that different k-Carrageenan concentrations had no significant effect on the water holding capacity.
 
Conclusion
The obtained results showed that k-Carrageenan had considerable influence on the rheo-mechanical features of cold-set emulsion-filled gels based on whey protein which can add to the knowledge base for the production of new functional foods.

Keywords

• Cold set emulsion filled gel
• k-Carrageenan
• Rheology
• Texture
• Whey protein

Main Subjects

• Food Engineering

©2023 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source.

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