Chapter 7: Pickering Emulsions

Emulsion technology has been used for decades in the food industry to create a diverse range of products. Recently, however, innovations in emulsion science and technology have led to the development of new approaches to improving food quality and functionality. This chapter provides an overview of an advanced emulsion technology, i.e. Pickering emulsions, that has garnered a great deal of interest from researchers in recent years. Pickering emulsions are stabilized by colloidal particles, which may be synthetic or natural, rather than conventional molecular emulsifiers. The stabilization mechanisms involved are fundamentally different to those of conventional emulsifiers, which leads to novel properties in Pickering emulsions, such as strong resistance to coalescence. Much of the early research on Pickering emulsions used inorganic solid particles as stabilizers, but recently there has been a growing focus on the use of organic particles, which are more label friendly. This chapter also discusses the latest advances in the application of Pickering emulsions in the food industry, including their potential benefits and limitations, as well as future research trends.