Sustainable Food Processing Through Interface Control

Surfactants play an important role in food processing by controlling emulsification, foaming, dispersion, or surface modification. Kao maximizes these properties of surfactants to provide the food industry with sustainable food processing technologies.

Tofu, for example, is a gelatinous food product made by coagulating soy milk proteins with salt or acid. Using bittern (aqueous solution of magnesium chloride) to coagulate the soy milk brings out the sweetness of the tofu beans, but because the coagulation occurs quickly, highly advanced technologies are required to achieve reliable quality. Soy milk contains a variety of proteins, each with different properties, which form colloids. In order to turn the soy milk into a gelatinous substance, the ionic strength needs to be modified at the right time in the right way to induce the aggregates to coalesce into a network structure. Emulsified bittern, a W/O (water in oil) dispersion of bittern in oil, can be dispersed in soy milk to create a W/O/W solution. The emulsion gradually dissolves and the bittern contained within the oil drops is slowly released.