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Fabrication of Gel-Like Emulsions with Whey Protein Isolate Using Microfluidization: Rheological Properties and 3D Printing Performance

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Abstract

A gel-like emulsion stabilized with whey protein was prepared by microfluidization, and the effects of the oil phase fraction on the physical properties of emulsions were studied. The rheological analysis indicated that these emulsions exhibited thixotropic behavior, and their apparent viscosity and solid-like behavior increased with increasing oil fraction from 0.3 to 0.6 (v/v). The microstructures, droplet size distribution, and thermal stability of these emulsions were also characterized using a light microscope, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), respectively. The viscosity of these emulsions increased in an exponential way versus increasing oil fraction and showed good correlation coefficient (R2 > 0.99). The size of droplets in the emulsion increased from 301 ± 3.6 to 597 ± 7.3 nm. The DSC results showed that the crystalline peak of these emulsions gradually decreased from − 15 to − 21 °C and started thawing at ~ 3 °C. Visually, the textures of these emulsions could be transformed from flexible to rigid by changing the oil fraction, which suggests they could have multiple potential applications. Finally, the semi-solid emulsions were fabricated into delicate shapes using extrusion-based 3D food printing. Based on the results obtained, these emulsions may have the potential to be used as a solid-like fat substitute, which could be used in various applications such as cake decoration or customized functional foods.

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  • 05 November 2019

    The original version of this article unfortunately contained some mistakes. The Fig. 7 was published with incomplete content due to incorrect image processing.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFD0400600), the National First-class Discipline Program of Food Science & Technology (JUFSTR20180201), Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX19_1815), and China Association for Science and Technology Program (No. 2018CASTQNJL27).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Food Science & Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, Jiangsu Province, China

    Yaowei Liu, Wenjin Zhang, Keyu Wang, Yulong Bao & Peng Zhou

  2. International Joint Research Laboratory for Functional Dairy Protein Ingredients, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, Jiangsu Province, China

    Yaowei Liu, Wenjin Zhang, Keyu Wang, Yulong Bao, Joe Mac Regenstein & Peng Zhou

  3. Department of Food Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853-7201, USA

    Joe Mac Regenstein

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  1. Yaowei Liu
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  2. Wenjin Zhang
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  6. Peng Zhou
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Correspondence to Peng Zhou.

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The original version of this article was revised as Figure 7 was updated showing panels E-G.

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Liu, Y., Zhang, W., Wang, K. et al. Fabrication of Gel-Like Emulsions with Whey Protein Isolate Using Microfluidization: Rheological Properties and 3D Printing Performance. Food Bioprocess Technol 12, 1967–1979 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-019-02344-5

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