Biopolymers foods

Shear-sensitive products hollow glass, biopolymers, food/feed, pharmaceuticals dehydrating rubber... 

Matveev, Y.I., Grinberg, V.Y., and Tolstoguzov, V.B. The plasticizing effect of water on proteins, polysaccharides and their mixtures. Glassy state of biopolymers, foods and seeds. Food Hydrocol., 14,425, 2000. 

Key words biopolymers, food packaging, food coatings, encapsulation, nanotechnology. 

Biopolymers are employed in many immunological techniques, including the analysis of food, clinical samples, pesticides, and in other areas of analytical chemistry. Immunoassays (qv) are specific, sensitive, relatively easy to perform, and usually inexpensive. For repetitive analyses, immunoassays compare very favorably with many conventional methods in terms of both sensitivity and limits of detection. 

In the past, research activities in the field of hemicellulose were aimed mainly at utilizing plant biomass by conversion into sugars, chemicals, fuel and as sources of heat energy. However, hemicelluloses, due to their structural varieties and diversity are also attractive as biopolymers, which can be utilized in their native or modified forms in various areas, including food and non-food applications. 

GA is a natural biopolymer with wide industrial use as a stabilizer, a thickener, an emulsifier and in additive encapsulation not only in food industry but also in textiles, ceramics, lithography, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry (Verbeken et al., 2003). 

Characterization and singlet oxygen quenching ability of spray-dried microcapsules of edible biopolymers containing antioxidant molecules. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Vol. 58, No.l3, (June 2010), pp. 8004-8011, ISSN 0021-8561. 

The need of modern science to achieve a sustainable future development has been shown in many circumstances in society. Finding strategies less harmful to the environment has been a quest for research in several areas, such as pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and food industries. With that purpose, the increase in research and development of more applications of xylan and its derivatives has shown the versatility of this biopolymer, thus helping the search for sustainable alternatives. 

Biodegradable films made from edible biopolymers from renewable sources could become an important factor in reducing the environmental impact of plastic waste. Proteins, lipids, and polysaccharides are the main biopolymers employed to make edible films and coatings. Which of these components are present in different proportions and determine the properties of the material, as a barrier to water vapor, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and lipid transfer in food systems (Gomez-Guillen et al. 2002 and 2009). 

P. J. Barker, H. J. Stronks 1990, (Application of the low resolution pulsed NMR MINISPEC to analytical problems in the food and agriculture industries), in NMR Applications in Biopolymers, eds. 

Adsorption of (bio)polymers occurs ubiquitously, and among the biopolymers, proteins are most surface active. Wherever and whenever a protein-containing (aqueous) solution is exposed to a (solid) surface, it results in the spontaneous accumulation of protein molecules at the solid-water interface, thereby altering the characteristics of the sorbent surface and, in most cases, of the protein molecules as well (Malmsten 2003). Therefore, the interaction between proteins and interfaces attracts attention from a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from environmental sciences to food processing and medical sciences. 

Burchard W (1994) In Ross-Murphy SB (ed) Physical Techniques for the Study of Food Biopolymers. Blackie Academic and Professional, Glasgow, p 151... 

As gelatin is a common food additive with applications in the pharmaceutical industry, its introduction into foreign protein production systems may generate fewer regulatory concerns than other biopolymers. 

FIG. 35 Percentage relative humidities of common foods at room temperature and typical steady-state moisture contents plotted as a universal sorption isotherm with portions of three glass curves (relatively positioned) for sorbitol, for a nonnetworked biopolymer, and for a permanent network [reproduced with permission from Slade and Levine (2003)]. 

Hills, B.P., Manning, C.E., and Godward, J. 1999. A multistate theory of water relations in biopolymer systems. In Advances in Magnetic Resonance in Food Science (P.S. Belton, B.P. Hill, and G.A. Webb, eds), pp. 45-62. Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, UK. 

Alginate is another biopolymer extensively studied for its gel formation property with applications in the food packaging and pharmaceutical industries as well as for membranes and as biosensors. Such LDH hybrid assemblies were recently used for the detection of cations such as Ca [HO]. 

Bruin, S., Van Zuilichem, D.J., and Stolp W., A Review of Fundamental and Engineering Aspects of Extrusion of Biopolymers in a Single-Screw Extruder, . Food Process Eng., 2, 1 (1978)... 

Because mankind, like other nonphotosynthetic organisms, developed survival strategies based on the exploitation of photosynthetic plants, there are many traditional uses for biopolymers that are unlikely to be replaced in a foreseeable future. The largest use of cultivated plants is as human food, as animal feed, and in fiber production, with a relatively tiny acreage devoted to specialty crops for spices, herbs, drugs, and textile fibers (77). 

With the exception of starch, many biopolymers cannot provide nutrition for humans and other omnivorous animals. In human foods biopolymers are used as additives that can improve texture, viscosity, fiber content, and other properties of prepared foods, without providing direct nutritional values. Examples of such utilization are the addition of pectins, agar, and other gums to foods to achieve thickening and gelling effects. Another example of potential large-scale utilization of cell wall biopolymers is the dramatic improvement in the texture and rising of breads prepared from com and other starches by the addition of xylans (78). 

High pressure has proven to be a useful tool in biochemistry for the study of a number of cell-mediated processes, the most important being the effect on gene expression. The pressure effect on the stability of enzymes and biopolymers is a topic of general interest that may generate a number of possible applications in the area of food science. Biochemistry and biophysics continue to attract many new research groups, especially in the field of protein chemistry. Pressure may be a tool to obtain unique textures and provide biochemical products with new properties. 

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