Chapter 13: Biopolymer-based Food Additives and their Uses Check Access

Biopolymers are polymers of monomeric units derived from either biological systems or living organisms such as plants, animals, and microorganisms. Depending on the distinct functional groups present in the chemical structure of biopolymers, they can be generally categorized into three groups namely polysaccharides, proteins, and polynucleotides. Thus, biopolymers have great economic importance due to the presence of diverse functional groups such as hydroxyl, amino, amide, carboxylic, phosphate, and phenolic, among others in the molecular structure of the biopolymers. The key focus of this chapter is the significance of biopolymer-based food additives in the food processing industry. The main areas of interest are chemical and physicochemical characterization of biopolymer-based food additives, their rheological properties including viscosity, Newtonian and non-Newtonian behavior and gelation behavior, their interfacial properties including stabilization and emulsification of food systems, and their applications in the food industry as functional food additives.