Functions of pectin in food industry

Pectin plays an important role during ripening, storage and processing of plant raw materials for foods. It is natural hydrocolloids found in higher plants, widely used as gelling agents, stabilizers and emulsifiers in the food industry.

It is also extracted from suitable plant sources and as such widely used in food industry because of its gelling, stabilizing, and thickening properties.

Pectin substances are complex mixtures of polysaccharides that make up about one third of the cell-wall dry substance of dicotyledonous and some monocotyledonous plants.

Much of this material can be described as a main chain of alpha-D-galactopyranosyluronic acid units interrupted by L-rhamnopyranosyl units (1, 2).

Many of the rhamnosyl units have arabianan, galactan or arabinogalactan chains attached to them. 

Nowadays, pectin has gained interest as a functional food, because of possible health promoting effects. 

Pectin is used in jams and jellies, and in fruit drink concentrates, where it stabilizes emulsified oils and suspended fruit particles.

In addition to its used in jams and jellies, pectin is used in several other foods as an emulsifier, thickener and texturizer.

Furthermore,pectin is used in the food industry as a gelling and stabilizing agent in order to improve food rheological behavior.

Frozen food benefit from pectin’s ability to improve texture by controlling ice crystal size, preventing loss of syrup during thawing, and improving overall shape.

Fruit pieces in yoghurt are evenly distributed with the aid of pectin, and pectin imparts more body to diet soft drinks.

The juice of grapes, currants, lemons, sour oranges and grapefruits contains sufficient pectin and acid for jelly manufacture.
Functions of pectin in food industry