Formation of stable microbubbles and their application in food

The food industry is constantly looking for functional ingredients to make healthy products that are liked

by consumers and have preferred sensorial and textural properties. We think that stable air bubbles could be such a functional ingredient, because, in general, aerated products are liked by consumers due to their creamy mouthfeel.

But, how do we make stable air bubbles and, if we can, how do they function in real foods?

These questions we want to answer in our research. It consists of two parts:

1. To make stable food grade microbubbles

We try to give quantitative relations between properties of the ingredients, temperature, pH, and properties of the air bubble, like size distribution and stability.

2. To use stable air bubbles in food systems as a functional ingredient

We establish quantitative relations between the properties of the stable air bubbles and the physical-chemical (rheological, tribological, etc.)

Possible applications of stable air bubbles in food systems are:

• Manufacturing new textures with specific fracture properties and/or lubrication properties
• Fat reduction with comparable (or preferably better) physic-chemical properties than full-fat products

Our current work focuses on better understanding the mechanisms behind formation and stability of air bubbles. In a later state, we will tune these stable air bubbles so that they can be applied in a food system and we will study bubble-product relations.

So possible research topics are:

• Creating stable air bubbles with new shell ingredients
• Incorporating stable air bubbles in in food systems (for example in gels or in viscous emulsions)

If you are interested in this topic contact me via e-mail or come by at room 707b.