The 17th International
Hydrocolloids Conference


Speakers


17th International Hydrocolloids Conference Plenary Speakers

Dr Alejandra Acevedo-Fani

Dr Alejandra Acevedo-Fani

Dr. Alejandra Acevedo-Fani holds a Master’s and PhD in Food Science and Technology from the University of Lleida (Spain). She joined the Riddet Institute (New Zealand) as a Postdoctoral Fellow in 2017 and became a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow with the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (Portugal) in 2020. In 2023, she was appointed Senior Food Scientist at the Riddet Institute, Massey University, New Zealand. Her research interests cover several aspects of food colloids and digestion. Dr. Acevedo-Fani currently leads a research team with several research lines including 1) discovery of functional lipid and protein ingredients from plant-based materials, 2) emulsion systems to improve nutrients absorption, 2) food matrix effect on human digestion, using in vitro and in vivo models. Dr. Acevedo-Fani is Principal Investigator of the Riddet Institute Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) and serves as editorial board member of Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, Foods, Sustainable Food Proteins and Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. She is also the scientific co-founder of start-up company on plant-based dairy alternatives ANDFOODS.

Talk title: Exploring hempseed cellular components for the next-gen food innovations

Professor Osvaldo Campanella

Professor Osvaldo Campanella

Professor Osvaldo Campanella is the Carl E. Haas Endowed Chair in Food Industries at Ohio State University. His research focus is in food engineering, heat transfer modeling, food extrusion and rheology, and is involved in research related to new methods to characterise the formation of complex compounds using novel accoustic/ultrasound techniques.

Talk title: Manufacture and characterization of texturized foods using plant-based ingredients

Professor Lingyun Chen

Professor Lingyun Chen

Professor Lingyun Chen is in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Science at the University of Alberta. Her research focuses on the fundamental understanding of the molecular structure and functional properties of biopolymers with specific interest in food proteins and polysaccharides from plant resources. This fundamental knowledge has led to a systematic approach to develop new protein and polysaccharide applications in food and non-food areas.

Talk title: Design of protein-based hydrocolloids for healthy food and biomaterial applications.

Professor Bo Jiang

Professor Bo Jiang

Professor Bo Jiang is a professor at Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China. His research focuses on biochemistry, food science, enzymes, starch and chromatography. He has over 240 publications.

Talk title: Bio-processing of alginate: a marine-derived bioactive oligosaccharide

Professor Stefan Kasapis

Professor Stefan Kasapis

Professor Stefan Kasapis has over 30 years of experience working with the food industry to develop and improve novel and healthy formations. He is currently at RMIT, and his research focuses on the structural, nutritional, and bioactive functionality of materials. His research has resulted in ten patents for novel food products.

Talk title: Free volume vs molecular interactions in the structure-function relationships of high to low solid food systems

Professor Aiqian Ye

Professor Aiqian Ye

Prof. Ye's research focused on physicochemical characteristics of milk and plant proteins, interactions during processing and functionality in food systems. His research experiences were to understand the relationships between structure, functional properties of proteins and fat in food products, to investigate the interactions of minerals with proteins and fortification in products. His research also incorporated the characterisation of interactions between protein and protein, protein and polysaccharides in solutions and emulsions. Recently, Professor Ye focuses on the investigation on the behaviour of food structure during digestion and the influences of the structure and physical properties of food on the digestion and absorption in the body. Professor Ye is the Associate Editor of Current Research in Food Science and the Editorial Board members of Food Hydrocolloids and International Dairy Journal. Professor Ye has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles in international journals with 60 h-index.

Talk title: Intragastric colloidal behaviours and restructuring: manipulating the digestive outcomes

Dr Qi Wang

Dr Qi Wang

Dr Qi Wang is a Senior Research Scientist at the Guelph Research and Development Center, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Her research focuses on developing feasible delivery technologies for bioactive substances in Agri-Food production systems, mainly as antibiotic alternatives. Her research has resulted in over a hundred publications and several invention disclosures and patents. She is the lead recipient of the 2021 Prize for Outstanding Award in Science at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Talk title: Microencapsulation and target delivery of antibiotic alternatives by natural hydrocolloids for organic farming

17th International Hydrocolloids Conference Invited Speakers

Dr Wade Abbott

Dr Wade Abbott

Dr Wade Abbott is a Senior Research Scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. His research focus includes the discovery of carbohydrate active enzymes and metabolic pathways, agricultural glycomics, and carbohydrate-based innovations for the sustainable production of food. He has co-developed research projects with First Nations in Alberta (Piikani Nation) and BC (Tla-o-qui-aht Nation), weaving cutting-edge Western science approaches with traditional ways of knowing. His research team has been recognised for their contributions to Agricultural Glycomics with the AAFC Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Science. His programme has a focus on enabling-tools, which have led to the filing of five patents and one licensing agreement by a Canadian start-up.

Talk title: Advanced polysaccharide analysis of seaweeds cultivated in the Pacific Northwest to guide new agricultural applications

Associate Professor Yongfeng Ai

Associate Professor Yongfeng Ai

Dr. Yongfeng Ai is an Associate Professor and Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture Endowed Research Chair in Carbohydrate Quality and Utilization in the Department of Food and Bioproduct Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. The primary goal of his Carbohydrate Chemistry and Utilization Program is to promote value-added utilization of carbohydrates in foods, feeds, and bioproducts. His research areas include: (1) Carbohydrate chemistry and nutrition; (2) Value-added processing of cereals and pulses; and (3) Biomaterials.

Talk title: Manipulating starch digestibility in human and pet foods through extrusion technology

Professor Skelte Anema

Professor Skelte Anema

Professor Skelte Anema is a Principal Research Scientist at Fonterra Research and Development Centre (FRDC), an Adjunct Professor at Massey University and an Associate Investigator with the Riddet Institute. His research has primarily focussed on milk protein interactions and their impact on the physical and functional properties of milk products. He has over 165 publications in peer reviewed journals.

Talk title: The magic of milk proteins

Associate Professor Sushil Dhital

Associate Professor Sushil Dhital

Dr. Sushil Dhital is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Monash University in Australia. He holds a Ph.D. degree. Dr. Dhital serves as an Editor for the journal Carbohydrate Polymers and sits on the Editorial Boards of Food Hydrocolloids, Food Chemistry, and Bioactive Carbohydrates and Dietary Fibre. Additionally, he chairs The Australasian Grain Science Association (AGSA). His research focuses on understanding the relationships between the structure, properties, functions, and health impacts of food and food ingredients. Dr. Dhital's expertise lies in connecting plant molecular structures to broader properties relevant to food, health, and product development. His approach is multidisciplinary, drawing from physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. He has authored over 120 peer-reviewed research and review articles, accumulating more than 6900 citations with an H-Index of 50. Additionally, he has edited a book and contributed to seven book chapters.

Talk title: Interplay of Dietary Fibre Architecture on Gut Microbiota Dynamics

Mr. Brad Forrest

Associate Professor Sushil Dhital

Brad Forrest has been with IFF for 19 years, and working in the food ingredients industry for 34 years with a focus on hydrocolloids and emulsifiers. His career also includes time in R&D in the edible oils industry, and in QA in the sugar refining industry. Presently Brad serves as a Global Technical Manager within IFF’s Innovation organization. He is based in Sydney, Australia.

Talk title: Towards a more detailed understanding of dysphagia beverages

Professor Qingbin Guo

Professor Qingbin Guo

Professor Qingbin Guo is in the Department of Food Science and Engineering at Tianjin University of Science and Technology. His research focus is understanding the roles of complex polysaccharides/oligosaccharides as hydrocolloids, bioactive carbohydrates and dietary fibres to establish their structural and functional relationships and facilitate their applications in food and non-food fields.

Talk title: Polysaccharides Based Emulsifiers: Research and Development

Professor Shingo Matsukawa

Professor Shingo Matsukawa

Shingo Matsukawa is a professor of Department of Food Science & Technology. He worked at Kansai Paint co. Ltd. as a researcher of synthetic resin from 1984 to 1992. After getting Ph.D. from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1997, he starred to work as assistant professor (1997-2003), associate professor (2003-2016) and professor (20016-present) of Food Science & Technology at Tokyo University of Marine Science & Technology. He is a scientist of physical chemistry in food and his research interests are as following: (1) network structure and molecular mobility in food gels, (2) physicochemical property in emulsion system, (3) development of gradient NMR methods for application to food science. He have published many papers about physicochemical properties of food in related international journals at high level, and act as an associate editor of Food Hydrocolloids.

Talk title: Evaluation of physical properties of hydrocolloids by measurements from macro- to microscopic aspects

Professor Dan Ramdath

Dr. Dan Ramdath

Promoting food-based dietary guidelines to improve carbohydrate quality and chronic disease prevention
Dan Ramdath1,2, Simon G. Anderson2, Cyril W.C. Kendall3, Simin Liu4, David J.A. Jenkins3, John L. Sievenpiper3
1Caribbean Public Health Agency, Trinidad; 2University of the West Indies, Barbados, 3University of Toronto, Canada; 4University of California, Irvine, USA.

This international group of leading clinical nutrition scientists have conducted extensive human trials on the relationship between carbohydrate quality and risk for chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). They have individually and collaboratively led landmark studies resulting in high grade evidence that have been incorporate into clinical practice and national dietary guidelines. Members of this group have jointly worked to: (i) validate a standardized method for the determination and use of glycemic index of foods, and generated data bases for dietary cohort studies; (ii) conduct human trials with interventions of high quality carbohydrates (eg. plant based diets, replacement of sugar sweetened beverages); (iii) develop clinical practice guidelines as well as dietary reference intakes. Together they have advanced the understanding of the relationship between diet and NCDs by uniting human nutrition, genetics, metabolism, clinical medicine and public health.
Dan Ramdath will deliver the presentation on behalf of the group

Talk title: Promoting food-based dietary guidelines to improve carbohydrate quality and chronic disease prevention

Professor Yong-Cheng Shi

Professor Yong-Cheng Shi

Dr. Yong-Cheng Shi is a professor in the Department of Grain Science and Industry at Kansas State University (Manhattan, Kansas, USA). He worked for National Starch Food Innovation (Bridgewater, New Jersey, USA) from 1994 to 2005. His research areas include structure and function of cereal carbohydrates, physical, chemical, and enzymatic modifications of starches and flours, and developing technologies and products for food, nutrition, emulsion, encapsulation, and pharmaceutical applications.

Talk title: Strategies for improving starch stability in foods

Dr Philip Wescombe

Dr Philip Wescombe

Dr Philip Wescombe Manages the Yili Innovation Center Oceania in New Zealand. Following the completion of his PhD (Microbiology) in 2002, he has worked across the Probiotic and Dairy Industries with a particular focus on functional foods. The Center forms part of Yili Groups global strategy to access international expertise through open innovation, looking to improve both the Science behind Yili’s product offerings and build internal capability to further enhance the Company’s success.

Talk title: Development and application of a new clean label citrus fibre hydrocolloid

 

Bio-processing of alginate: a marine-derived bioactive oligosaccharide

Dr. Bo Jiang

Professor, Jiangnan University, China
Alginate, abundant in reserves and production, has garnered significant global research interest in recent years owing to its numerous beneficial properties. However, its high molecular weight (MW), viscosity, and low solubility limit its utility across various industries including food, medical, and agriculture. Conversely, its degradation product, alginate oligosaccharides (AOS), exhibits outstanding bioactivities, including immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-tumor, and plant growth-promoting properties, while addressing the limitations of alginate. Although physical and chemical methods for producing AOS have long been established, their high cost, product variability, purification challenges, and environmental impact hinder large-scale adoption. Notably, bioproduction of AOS through enzymatic degradation or microbial fermentation has gained increasingly attention because of its mild conditions, operational feasibility, high selectivity, and reduced by-product formation. Moreover, the resulting unsaturated oligosaccharides typically exhibit superior bioactivities. The biological production of AOS commonly relies on enzymatic degradation using various types of alginate lyases (ALys) from 14 Polysaccharide Lyase (PL) families. Molecular techniques, including cloning and heterologous expression of ALys, as well as homology modeling, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation, and site-directed mutagenesis, are utilized to construct and enhance the performance of ALys. Further, the structure and distribution of AOS, generated by ALys from various families, typically vary. ALys, exhibiting strict substrate specificity, hold promise for the targeted production of specific structural AOS. Attempts to produce AOS through fermentation of microorganisms capable of extracellular ALys secretion have been made. However, challenges such as complex product separation and purification, and limited extracellular enzyme activity have hindered widespread application.
 

Polysaccharide based emulsifiers: research and product development

Qingbin Guo1, Ji Kang1, Steve W Cui2

1 *College of Food Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, China
2 Guelph Food Research and Development Centre, AAFC, Guelph, ON. Canada
Purpose:The objective of this study is to understand the relationships between the structural and emulsification properties of gum ghatti, a polysaccharide-based emulsifier, for the development of innovative emulsification products.

Methods: Detailed characterization was conducted on the polysaccharide and protein portions (4.37%) of gum ghatti. This included classifying its family, examining the linkage between the protein and polysaccharide molecules, and assessing its emulsification capacity and stability. Drying heating and solution heating methods were utilized to enhance its properties. Additionally, the molecular weight of gum ghatti was reduced using ultrasonication and acidic hydrolysis. Whey protein concentrate was then added, and polysaccharide-protein conjugation was induced through the Maillard reaction.

Results: Gum ghatti was classified as a member of the arabinogalactan family. It was found that the protein is predominantly covalently linked to the polysaccharide molecules, forming a comb-like structure. The peptide chain of gum ghatti demonstrated a high hydrophobic score. The emulsification capacity and stability of gum ghatti were determined to be four times more effective than those of gum arabic. The heating methods applied further enhanced these properties. Following treatment, the reduced molecular weight of gum ghatti and the subsequent polysaccharide-protein conjugates exhibited varied emulsification properties.

Conclusions: The study provides critical insights into the structural features and enhanced emulsification capabilities of gum ghatti. The unique comb model structure and the high hydrophobicity of its peptide chain are pivotal to its effectiveness as an emulsifier. The various modifications applied, including heating treatments and molecular weight reduction, along with the creation of polysaccharide-protein conjugates, show potential for the development of novel emulsification products with diverse applications.
 

Towards a more detailed understanding of dysphagia beverages

Graham Sworn; Florian Nettesheim; Brad Forrest*

International Flavours & Fragrances Inc.
Dysphagia is a perennial health challenge in the elderly as well as other groups. With aging populations in many regions of the world, the incidence can only be expected to increase. Poor swallow mechanisms in afflicted populations can lead to malnutrition and aspiration pneumonia amongst other morbidities.

Over several years, a body of empirical evidence has emerged supporting that thickening of fluids is an effective intervention in enhancing safe swallowing and reducing the risk of aspiration. In the case of beverages, including water, this has been achieved through use of hydrocolloids - commonly but not exclusively, starches and xanthan.

Whilst progress has been made in describing various thicknesses of foods and beverages from the standpoint of standardised preparation in the nursing environment, quantitative description of optimal rheological properties remains a topic of active investigation.

In this paper we seek to present a review of key learnings in this field and thence demonstrate the place of extensional rheology as an important feature of a fluid proposed for use in enhancing safe swallowing for those suffering oropharyngeal dysphagia.
 

Microencapsulation and target delivery of antibiotic alternatives by natural hydrocolloids for organic farming

Qi Wang1*, Steve Cui1, Joshua Gong1, Nasser Ibrahim1, Antonet Svircev2, Hanay Anny1

1Guelph Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
2London Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, London, Ontario, Canada
The global environmental crisis and consumer health consciousness have led to increased attention to organic farming. Organic farming not only produces healthier foods, but also leaves fewer chemicals that pollute the waters and soil. Reduction of antibiotic use in agricultural production has been a big challenge to organic farming and the search for using natural bioactive substances to replace conventional antibiotics has intensified. Probiotics, bacteriophage, and essential oils are promising candidates as antibiotic alternatives. Effective protection and delivery of these bioactives to their target sites is a critical step toward the success of such applications. Although encapsulation is shown to be effective in such applications, the selection of encapsulation wall materials that meet organic farming requirements has been a big challenge. This presentation will use two examples to demonstrate the quest for natural hydrocolloids to be applied to encapsulation and delivery of antibiotic alternatives that meet organic farming requirements. One example is for intestinal delivery of essential oils for disease control and improvement of gut health in animals; the other is for delivery of a bacteriophage-based biopesticide for disease control in fruit trees. Various encapsulation techniques, including emulsification, spray drying, and freeze drying are compared and selected according to the respective applications. The results demonstrated that natural hydrocolloids are irreplaceable as encapsulation wall materials for target delivery of bioactive substances as antibiotic alternatives in organic farming.
 

Promoting food-based dietary guidelines to improve carbohydrate quality and chronic disease prevention

Dan Ramdath1,2, Simon G. Anderson2, Cyril W.C. Kendall3, Simin Liu4, David J.A. Jenkins3, John L. Sievenpiper3

1Caribbean Public Health Agency
2University of the West Indies, Barbados
3University of Toronto, Canada
4University of California, Irvine, USA.
Introduction: The continued obesity pandemic and its associated risks for non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs) have been linked to various dietary components, diet quality, and availability of healthy foods. However, several dietary patterns, including the Mediterranean, Portfolio, Nordic, Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) etc., continue to be evaluated for their protective effects against NCD risk. Yet, much remains to be learnt about the impact of specific macronutrients on NCDs, particularly in diverse populations from low-and middle-income countries. Moreover, the abundance of relatively inexpensive calorie-dense foods in a global Westernized environmental culture presents a major challenge for individuals to adopt healthy eating behaviours. In this review, we critically examined available studies to determine carbohydrate quality, which included metrics such as glycemic index (GI), glycemic load (GL), and glycemic control; the LDL-cholesterol lowering effect; and overall diet quality. These metrics were reconciled against morbidity and mortality outcomes including NCD risk reduction.

Methods: Assessment of the available literature with specific emphasis on the roles of healthy dietary patterns in the prevention and management of NCDs

Results: Except for the DASH diet that allows for generous servings of lean meats, the dietary patterns evaluated were all rich in minimally processed whole grains and plant-based foods. The strongest evidence to date comes from the PREDIMED study, one of the largest randomized-controlled foods-based trial of Europeans, demonstrating exceptionally effective of the Mediterranean diet in reducing the incidence of major cardiovascular events while significantly lowering dietary GL and GI. This is consistent with a large of body of literature showing that a diet with a high GI and GL was associated with an increased risk of NCDs and mortality. In parallel, these studies also show that the plant-based, low GI and GL, Portfolio Diet was equally effective in reducing LDL-C, glycemic control and cardiovascular risk. There is currently ongoing implementation of the Portfolio Diet as part of food-based dietary interventions in free-living at-risk individuals; preliminary results show high efficacy in NCD risk reduction. In contrast, diets high in refined carbohydrates, particularly free or added sugars, have been associated with significantly increased NCD risk.

Discussion: Plant-based dietary patterns with small amounts of lean meats, fish and healthy fats improve diet carbohydrate quality, reduce dyslipidemia and are associated with lower NCD risk and a decrease in CVD mortality.
 

Advanced polysaccharide analysis of seaweeds cultivated in the Pacific Northwest to guide new agricultural applications

D. Wade Abbott

Lethbridge Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Seaweed has been a traditional food system for coastal Indigenous communities since time immemorial and more recently has become popular in mainstream markets as human food. Other potential applications of seaweed, such as for improving human health and enhancing agriculture, have not received as much attention despite their sizeable potential to contribute to sustainable biomanufacturing and food production. In particular, seaweeds have shown promise to reduce enteric methane emissions from cattle and improve plant health and resiliency. Our research team at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, in partnership with our industry collaborators, is focusing on studying the chemical properties of seaweed polysaccharides and the benefits of cultivated seaweeds for improving rumen function and soil health. Our goal is to create new and more efficient applications for seaweed-based products to open up new market opportunities and help farmers achieve sustainable food production practices in response to changing climate pressures.

Seaweed polysaccharides are structurally complex. The composition of polysaccharides differs between seaweed type (Phaeophyta, Chlorophyta, and Rhodophyta), between closely related species, and even within the same species, depending on stage of development and environmental factors. Seaweed polysaccharides can vary in their monosaccharide composition and glycosidic linkages, and exhibit signature chemical modifications, such as sulfation. Conventional lab techniques used for analyzing seaweed cell walls are limited in their ability to provide detailed insights into composition and abundance of polysaccharides. Our team has been working on addressing this technical gap and developing methods for purifying and analyzing polysaccharides found in seaweeds. In order to maximize the production and profitability of seaweed cultivation for the emerging industry, it will be essential to define the profiles of farmed seaweed polysaccharides and how these profiles are influenced by factors such as growth habitats and environmental stressors. In this presentation, I will provide an overview on the glycomics methods we have developed and some polysaccharide profiles we have studied using red and brown seaweeds that grow in the Pacific Northwest. Additionally, I will discuss some of our current work studying the digestibility of seaweed polysaccharides by the gastrointestinal microbiota of cattle and other domesticated ruminants. These topics will help lay the ground work for the utilization of seaweed as an alternative feed, or “sea-feed” for cattle production.
 

Manipulating starch digestibility in human and pet foods through extrusion technology

Yikai Ren, Fan Cheng, Yongfeng Ai*

Department of Food and Bioproduct Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Extrusion is a versatile and effective processing technology that applies mixing, conveying, kneading, shearing, cooking, melting, structuring, and/or shaping to modify raw ingredients as well as to transform them to human foods, pet foods, and animal feeds. During the modification and transformation, starch can play important roles as a gelling agent, binder, texture provider, stabilizer, and energy source. Flours of round pea, lentil, faba bean, and wrinkled pea were utilized as the sole starch source to produce dry pet foods through extrusion, along with rice flour as the control. All the diets were formulated to provide the same levels of starch (~20%) and other nutrients. Wrinkled pea pet foods showed noticeably lower damaged/gelatinized-starch contents and less molecular breakdown than the rice and normal pulse samples, which explained the considerably lower in vitro and in vivo starch digestibility of the former. To further reduce starch digestion, extruded pet foods were prepared using rice (control), round pea, and wrinkled pea flours with rosemary extract (RE) incorporated at levels of 0, 1.0, 10.0, and 30.0 g/kg (designated as RE0, RE1, RE10, and RE30, respectively). RE10 and RE30 significantly decreased in vitro starch digestibility of pet foods, with the highest reduction observed for the high-amylose wrinkled pea sample. Although RE1 did not significantly influence the in vitro and in vivo starch digestibility, this treatment consistently delayed the peak times of postprandial blood glucose responses to all the three extruded diets in beagles. In a separate study, extrusion was combined with high-temperature drying (EHTD) to modify round pea starch: extrusion with 37.5% moisture and a low-temperature profile (< 65°C), followed by immediate heating at 130°C for 1 h. Overall, EHTD increased gelatinization temperatures and decreased gelatinization enthalpy change, lowered pasting viscosity and gel hardness, as well as enhanced enzymatic resistance of pea starch. More interestingly, in a human feeding trial (n = 20 healthy subjects) to determine plasma glucose response over a period of 2 h after consuming water-boiled samples (containing 35 g dry starch), EHTD-modified pea starch displayed 22% reduction (p < 0.01) in plasma glucose incremental area under the curve in comparison with the native sample. This presentation will highlight novel findings of selecting suitable raw materials and designing extrusion processes to control starch digestibility in extruded products.
 

Interplay of Dietary Fibre Architecture on Gut Microbiota Dynamics

Sushil Dhital

Associate Professor, Bioresource Processing Research Institute of Australia (BioPRIA), Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, Monash University, VIC 3800, Australia
Dietary fibre, including the Resistant starch, is not digested and absorbed in the small intestine of the human body and thus excursed to the large intestine. The carbon polymers are fermented by microbes to produce beneficial metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and organic acids. These metabolites are known to have proven health benefits in diversifying the gut microbiota, leading to immunomodulation and reduction of infections and metabolic diseases. The presentation focuses on how the form (soluble vs insoluble fibres), types (resistant starches, intact plant cells) and size of fibre are related to the diversity of microbiota and metabolites, including the SCFA and other organic acids based on the in-vitro and in-vivo fermentation studies. Understanding the rate and extent of microbial fermentation can help to design functional food with tailored gut functionality
 

Free volume vs molecular interactions in the structure-function relationships of high to low solid food systems

Stefan Kasapis

School of Science, RMIT University, Bundoora West Campus, Melbourne, Vic 3083, Australia
In soft matter physics, the problem of correctly describing the mobility and dynamics of molecular motions in polymers and co-solutes is very difficult. In this context, volume changes and hence free volume is a popular concept due to it being intuitively appealing. Often (but not invariably) is able to explain observed trends correctly, and it is easy for workers in polymer science – coming from many different backgrounds - to use. It appears that beyond free volume there are not many viable alternatives. The concept of configurational entropy and the relation it has to the transformation from the melt state to the rubbery consistency and the glass transition represents probably the only other approach that has often been used as an alternative, but it is much harder to understand and master in the structural properties of biomaterials [1].

Nevertheless, in a pioneering communication [2], Ngai and Plazek pointed out that in physics volume or free volume is not the most fundamental physical quantity one can imagine for use to describe dynamics in a structured system such as a biopolymer network. They argued that intermolecular interactions are more fundamental and the ultimate determining factor, but it is nontrivial to construct a theoretical framework starting from interactions because that is a many body problem. Intermolecular interactions, they said, determine volume but not vice versa. We have recognised in our research that the free volume concept cannot capture all the physics of molecular mobility in food systems of biopolymer, bioactive compound and other co-solutes [3].

Therefore, the present review aims to discuss the aforementioned statements, and in the process to touch upon some interesting physicochemical mechanisms in food systems, in order to recognise limitations in various mechanistic models depending on application. Regarding the application of the concept of the glass transition temperature on molecular transport of bioactive compounds and lipid oxidation in relation to the structural morphology of the delivery vehicle, the concept of free volume is the governing molecular process, as seen for bioactive cargos like nicotinic acid, caffeine and linoleic acid [4]. However, in low- and intermediate-solid food systems, vitamin diffusion through composite biopolymer gels or phenolic compound diffusion through single phase dairy protein preparations argue that free volume is supplanted by intermolecular interactions in the hydrated counterparts as the most fundamental physical quantity [5]. It is possible that a fundamental approach based on molecular interactions will probably validate in the future their application on many problems

  1. References
  2. Jiang, B., Kasapis, S. & Kontogiorgos, V. (2011). Combined use of the free volume and coupling theories in the glass transition of polysaccharide/co-solute systems. Carbohydrate Polymers, 83, 926
  3. Ngai, K.L. & Plazek, D.J. (1995). Identification of different modes of molecular motion in polymers that cause thermorheological complexity. Rubber Chem. Technology, 68, 376.
  4. Kasapis, S. (2008). Recent advances and future challenges in the explanation and exploitation of the network glass transition of high sugar / biopolymer mixtures. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 48, 185.
  5. Sidhu, M.K., Whitehead, F. & Kasapis, S. (2023). Diffusion kinetics of vitamin B6 from phase separated gelatin and agarose gels using blending law modelling. Food Hydrocolloids, 139, 108519.
  6. Ikasari, D., Paramita, V.D. & Kasapis, S. (2023). Mechanical vs calorimetric glass transition temperature in the oxidation of linoleic acid from condensed -carrageenan/glucose syrup systems. Food Hydrocolloids, 139, 108555
 

The magic of milk proteins

Skelte G. Anema

Fonterra Research and Development Centre, Palmerston North, New Zealand
The functional properties of milk products are determined by the interactions of the proteins within the system. Interactions can be divided into groups such as: those naturally present (e.g. the assembly of the individual casein proteins with calcium phosphate to form casein micelles); process-induced interactions (e.g. interactions of denatured whey proteins with -casein/casein micelles) and spontaneous interactions (e.g. interaction of negatively charged casein micelles with positively charged whey proteins such as lactoferrin). The various interactions, and therefore the functional properties of the system, can be modified by changing the composition of the milk through the addition of individual milk proteins. This talk will present examples of the various types of interactions and how they are affected by changes to the protein composition of the milk at the time of processing. In addition, the impact of the various interactions on the functional properties of the milk will be discussed with the use of specific examples relevant to common dairy food systems. These examples will exemplify the importance of the protein composition and the interactions between the various proteins in determining the functional properties of dairy protein systems.
 

Intragastric colloidal behaviours and restructuring: manipulating the digestive outcomes

Aiqian Ye

Riddet Institute, Massey University, New Zealand
Colloidal behaviour of food during digestion plays an important role in the breakdown, gastric emptying, digestibility of food components, which depends on the interaction between the food components and physiological secretion and action. The coagulation and aggregation of milk proteins under gastric conditions to form a structured coagulum is a unique interaction between food source and physiological secretion pepsin and acid. The interaction takes place in various types of food containing milk proteins, such as milk, plant-based milk, infant formulae, gel-type dairy products and emulsion-type beverages, which result in a variety of colloidal phenomena under gastric digestion, for examples, clotting, aggregation, flocculation/creaming and gelation. The protein composition, source, processing treatments and the presence of other food components influence the interactions, hence the colloidal behaviours and the structure of stomach chyme. These colloidal behaviours in the stomach have an impact on the digestion of protein, lipid and other nutrients by controlling the kinetics of protein hydrolysis, disintegration of the formed structure and gastric emptying. This presentation updates our recent work on the interactions between protein and pepsin and the dynamic in vitro digestion of protein and fat from various food products (i.e. dairy and plant-based foods) with various compositions and treatments. This work highlights how various matrices formed under gastric conditions can govern the fate of health by manipulating the macronutrient delivery and digestion of food products.
 

Design of protein-based hydrocolloids for healthy food and biomaterial applications.

Lingyun Chen

Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sci - Ag, Food & Nutri Sci Dept. University of Albert, Canada
The growing demand for sustainable and health-conscious food products has led to an increased interest in plant proteins as alternatives to animal proteins. However, developing stable and palatable protein-rich foods using plant proteins presents significant challenges. These challenges arise primarily from the structural limitations of plant proteins, which often exhibit lower solubility and functional properties due to their complex quaternary aggregates.

This presentation will explore the use of protein-based hydrocolloids as an effective strategy to address these challenges. It will focus on the design and development of protein fibrillar and particulate aggregates, as well as protein microgels, utilizing both bottom-up and top-down approaches. The impact of their morphology, size, and chemical characteristics on key functional properties—such as emulsifying, foaming, and gelling—will be discussed. Furthermore, the potential of protein-based hydrocolloids to enhance the stability, sensory attributes, and nutritional value of plant protein-based food products will be highlighted.
 

Development and application of a new clean label citrus fibre hydrocolloid

Ying Xu1, He Jia22, Philip Wescombe3, Jun Xu1,

1 Inner Mongolia Dairy Technology Research Institute Co. Ltd, Hohhot 010110, China
2National Center of Technology Innovation for Dairy, Hohhot 010110, China
3National Center of Technology Innovation for Dairy - Oceania Innovation Center, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand
Introduction: Cheese is an emerging dairy category in China which has high growth potential but also significant scope for innovation as expectations of what cheese should taste like have not yet be defined for the Chinese consumer. To develop a low-fat cheese suitable for the China market, Yili Group, a leader in the dairy industry within China, has developed a novel clean label citrus fiber with hydrocolloid properties to provide improved taste, texture and melting performance for cheese slices.

Methods: A process to extract citrus fiber from juiced sweet oranges was developed and the properties of the new fiber have been explored using traditional techniques such as measuring the water holding capacity, effects of shear on viscosity and texture, EM for microstructure visualization and finally sensory evaluation. The fiber was then used in a low fat processed cheese and consumer testing carried out compared to a control with no added fiber.

Results: A commercially viable extraction process was developed for the sweet orange citrus fiber. The fiber was found to have higher water retention properties than other tested plant fibers with suitable properties for use in gel formation. Compared to xanthan gum and carboxymethyl cellulose, the citrus fiber had higher texture hardness properties but lower viscosity. It was successfully commercialized into a low fat cheese product with improved consumer perception for texture, melting characteristics in the mouth and moisture content. The citrus fiber was also explored for application in yoghurt to replace starch and pectin expanding the application range of the ingredient.

Discussion: The new citrus fiber has significantly higher water retention with excellent gel thickening properties when compared to other plant fibers. On the palate it is delicate and soft without coarseness or a grainy feel and provides fatty taste. Overall, citrus fiber provides a superior easy to use, clean label replacement for fat or carbohydrates, and has been successfully applied to processed cheese slice manufacture in China with potential for application in yoghurt and ice cream in the future.

 

Exploring hempseed cellular components for the next-gen food innovations

Dr. Alejandra Acevedo-Fani

Riddet Institute, Massey University. Private bag 11222, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand
As the food industry faces the challenges of climate change and increasing consumer demand for clean-label products, the need for alternative ingredients is becoming increasingly urgent. This shift is driving the search for sustainable solutions to develop new food ingredients. Plant-based materials, particularly as replacements for animal-derived proteins and lipids, have become a focal point, leading to significant innovation across the sector.

Conventional methods of producing plant-based proteins and lipids often require large amounts of energy, water, and organic solvents for purification from plant cells. These extraction processes can disrupt the native structures in which proteins and lipids are naturally assembled, potentially overlooking the advantages these nature-assembled structures might offer as food ingredients.

For instance, seeds and grains store proteins and lipids within specialised organelles called protein bodies and oil bodies, which serve as energy sources during seed germination. These organelles can be isolated through mild extraction techniques and explored for various food applications. This approach may offer environmental benefits, though the impact of preserving the native structure on the components' functional properties, both technologically and nutritionally, remains not fully understood.

This presentation will cover our recent work on the isolation and characterization of protein and oil bodies from industrial hemp seeds, a sustainable crop that has been identified as relevant for New Zealand's agricultural future.

Keywords: sustainable ingredients, protein bodies, oil bodies, hempseed.
 

Manufacture and characterization of texturized foods using plant-based ingredients

Osvaldo Campanella

Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
Plant based ingredients are commonly regarded as safer and healthier and can be obtained from more sustainable resources than their animal counterparts. However, their nutritional quality and relatively poor functionality limit their applications in foods. Converting plant based ingredients to fibrous structures has been shown to enhance the physicochemical and textural properties of foods using these ingredients. However, scale production of plant based foods has many challenges which are closely related to the product formulation with direct relation to the product nutrition as well as its capacity to produce structures that confer suitable textures to the final products. Furthermore, currently employed formulations involves the use of refined ingredients such as plant protein concentrates or isolates, which have an impact in the cost of the final products and on the environment due to the solvents and energy employed for their production. Therefore, a systematic and depth understanding of how formulations affect the texturization process and control the food's final quality is necessary. Significant progress has been made on high-temperature shear (including extrusion)-induced fiber structures which are responsible for the desirable texture in plant based foods. Structuring plant proteins adds value for broadened food applications, but it remains challenging to keep processes cost-effective and environmentally friendly using food grade solvents.

This presentation primarily focuses on the manufacture of foods from plant ingredients. Changes of protein structure, protein-protein interactions and interaction with other macromolecules like polysaccharides will be discussed in detail, along with the effects of fabrication conditions and raw material sources on the morphology and function of the fibers, and ultimately their effects of final product textures.
 

Strategies for improving starch stability in foods

Yong-Cheng Shi

Department of Grain Science and Industry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA
Starch, a major component in cereal grains, has a critical influence on the texture, appearance, quality and nutritional properties of grain-based food products. Moreover, isolated starches are used in food applications, but shortcomings of the unmodified starches limit their use in many commercial applications. These shortcomings, among others, include the cohesive texture of the cooked starch, particularly from waxy maize, potato, and tapioca starch; the loss of viscosity by acids or mechanical shear; lack of clarity and the tendency to retrograde during storage. Chemically modified starches have been developed to overcome one or more of the shortcomings. Currently, clean-label is an emerging global trend in packaged foods. Ingredient suppliers want to offer clean-label ingredients that can be simply labelled as “starch” or “flour”. Ideally, clean-label ingredients cannot and should not negatively affect a product's shelf life, flavor, appearance, texture and other characteristics that consumers expect. In this presentation, factors affecting starch stability, starch structure-retrogradation relationship, and strategies for improving starch stability in foods will be discussed. Selecting right starch and modifications are important in food applications. To be used as a thickener or viscosifying agent, a waxy starch with no amylose is preferred. Among waxy starches, waxy wheat, waxy tapioca and waxy rice starches have good cold-storage stability and are potential starting materials from which clean-label functional starches may be produced. Controlling processing and storage conditions is another way to improve starch stability considering starch retrogradation as a polymer crystallization process which is affected by time, temperature, water content and presence of other components.
 

Evaluation of physical properties of hydrocolloids by measurements from macro- to microscopic aspects

Shingo Matsukawa

Department of Food Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Techn
Rheological measurements on food hydrocolloids of biopolymers, such as polysaccharides and proteins, provide useful information to understand gelation mechanism and network structure from macroscopic viewpoints. For better understanding, however, measurements of microscopic physicochemical properties are instructive to give mobility and structures in nano-meter level and molecular level. In many cases, the gelation of biopolymer solutions is induced by the formation of helical structures and subsequent their aggregation, which is detected as an exothermic peak in micro-DSC measurements. The peak temperature is mostly identical to the gelation temperature observed in the macroscopic theological measurements and the peak area corresponds to the enthalpy accompanied with the formation and aggregation of helices. The molecular mobilities in biopolymer chains are strongly depressed by the formation and aggregation of helices. NMR gives information on molecular mobility. Relaxation times for polysaccharide reflect the flexibility of chains and relaxation times for water reflect the motion of water molecules and biopolymer through the chemical exchanging between water proton and labile proton on the chains. The diffusion coefficients of biopolymers give the information about the mobility of molecules and the network structure in the biopolymer gels. Nano-particle tracking is a noninvasive technique performed by monitoring the Brownian motion of the probe particle which provides information on the local viscoelasticity in the gels and spatial differences in the local physical properties during the gelation. These methods have been applied to the studies on gelation behaviors in solutions of agarose, gellans, carrageenans and gelatins to give physical pictures of gelation mechanisms.