Unravelling the unravelled: Microfibrillated cellulose as texture modifier in liquid and semi-solid foods

Samenvatting

Growing global concerns about obesity and the environment have generated a demand for healthy and sustainable food products. The use of waste materials offers a promising strategy to pursue a more circular economy. Microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) can be prepared from agricultural waste materials and has shown potential as a functional ingredient in foods. Mechanical treatment of primary cell walls, for example of citrus fruits, disintegrates the structure of native cellulose and yields a three-dimensional entangled polymer network that can form stable dispersions in water. In this thesis the potential of MFC as a low-caloric clean-label texture modifier in liquid and semi-solid foods was studied, thereby focusing on its effect on rheological, tribological and sensory properties of the resulting food. In other words, this thesis aimed to ‘unravel the unravelled’ by studying sensory and physico-chemical properties of MFC and thereby examine its suitability as a texture modifier.