Insect as Food: A Sustainable and Nutritious Alternative

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               INSECTS AS FOOD              Exploring Entomophagy: A Sustainable Protein Source Insects-as-food  (Image from Startpage.com)   After the looking title, you might feel like vomiting I guess, and in the situation of COVID-19 pandemic who wants to eat those types of foods and why people like to eat that, many questions come in the mind, I am also one of you totally pure vegetarian but I am curious about this and really it's important to know why insects are food for many peoples … Let’s just start with the word “ ENTOMOPHAGY "   what is it???  Insects-eating-as-food  (Image from Startpage.com)                           Then the answer is  “The practice of consuming insects are called entomophagy” and it is estimated by FAO ( FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED STATE ) that the two billio...

EMULSIFIERS : LABEL-FRIENDLY AND VEGAN

                                                     Food Additives: Emulsifiers

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                 Today in the developing world many people are curious about the food that they eat or from where that food manufactured and what ingredients are used to make that food. addition of ingredient in food for preserving, and enhancing the nutritional value flavor and taste, etc this is important and suitable with the recent trends. people are aware of there food labeling to see the food additives in the food that they consumed.

Let's see the adding ingredient in the product what it's mean, The term food additive used for it,

DEFINITION OF FOOD ADDITIVES:

Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance its taste, appearance, or other qualities. Some additives have been used for centuries; for example, preserving food by pickling (with vinegar), salting, as with bacon, preserving sweets, or using sulfur dioxide as with wines. With the advent of processed foods in the second half of the twentieth century, many more additives have been introduced, of both natural and artificial origin. Food additives also include substances that may be introduced to food indirectly (called "indirect additives") in the manufacturing process, through packaging, or during storage or transport.

If people thinking that what has used additives then they have to know that many modern products, such as low-calorie, snack, and ready-to-eat convenience foods would not be possible without food additives.

Food components are materials added to ingredients to perform precise features. Additives may be natural, nature the same, or synthetic. The important businesses of food additives are antioxidants, hues, flavor enhancers, sweeteners, emulsifiers, and stabilizers and preservatives.

FOOD ADDITIVES 
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              In this blog we are going see about emulsifiers and
I’m sure you all known about or you have come across the term “emulsifiers” on food labels and in various types of recipes. These hidden ingredients have become such an important part of our lives and our food. In fact, you will find them in basically 99% of what you eat.

Oil and water doesn’t mix — until an emulsifying agent is added.

OIL AND WATER 
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        Emulsifiers are used to maintain a uniform dispersion of one liquid in any other, together with the oil in water. The primary shape of an emulsifying agent consists of a hydrophobic element, usually a long-chain fatty acid, and a hydrophilic portion that may be either charged or uncharged. The hydrophobic part of the emulsifier dissolves in the oil section and the hydrophilic portion dissolves within the aqueous section, forming a dispersion of small oil droplets.

Emulsifiers hence form and stabilize oil-in-water emulsions (e.g., mayonnaise), uniformly disperse oil-soluble taste compounds for the duration of a product, save you big ice crystal formation in frozen products (e.g., ice cream), and enhance the volume, uniformity, and fineness of baked products.

FROZEN DESSERT 
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               Emulsifiers crafted from the plant, animal, and synthetic assets commonly are added to processed meals which include mayonnaise, ice cream, and baked goods to create a smooth texture, prevent separation, and make bigger shelf existence. However, in this period of “clean labels,” purchasers query the necessity of additives in food.

Definition

A food emulsifier also called an emulgent, is a surface-active agent that acts as a border between two immiscible liquids such as oil and water, allowing them to be blended into stable emulsions. Emulsifiers also reduce stickiness, control crystallization, and prevent separation.

GLOBAL FOOD EMULSIFIRES MARKET
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          The global food emulsifiers market is estimated to be valued at USD 3.2 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 4.0 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 4.7% during the forecast period. The rise in the consumption of processed foods due to the rising disposable income and the increasing end-user applications of food emulsifiers are expected to drive the overall food emulsifiers market.


ASIA FOOD EMULSIFIER MARKET
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    Types of Emulsifiers

There are 2 types of emulsifiers and if we see the best-known emulsifier in the world is egg yolks but it is not a plant-based or vegan, with trending of vegan or the plant-based ingredient I listed some vegan emulsifiers.

  • Natural (both animal-based and plant-based)
  • Synthetic (man-made; used to help speed up the emulsion process)

The best-known type of emulsifier is one that comes from egg yolk, lecithin. Lecithin can be found in chocolates, candy, salad oils, grill shortening, and more. Since it comes from egg yolk, an animal product, lecithin is not vegan.

Other common emulsifiers are:

  • Meat protein
  • Milk protein (casein)
  • Tomato paste
  • Mustard powder
  • Vegetable protein (like soy protein or flaxseed

 


MUSTARD POWDER
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VEGAN EMULSIFIERS or PLANT-BASED EMULSIFIERS listed the following :

Plant-based emulsifiers are a group of natural emulsifiers. There are many vegan, or plant-based, emulsifiers you can use in your recipes. Some examples are wheat, soy, pea protein-based, or any type of healthy unsaturated vegetable oil. These are all healthy substitutes for protein-based emulsifiers.

The best-known vegan emulsifiers are:

  • guar gum
  • xanthan gum
  • soy lecithin
  • gellan gum
  • agar-agar
  • mustard powder                     

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Emulsifiers on Food Labels

Food additives, including emulsifiers, play an important role in our food supply. Consumers who are concerned about these ingredients are encouraged to read labels and consume more minimally processed foods.

      One way to find out what types of emulsifiers are in your food is to read food labels. This is where you’ll find all the information you need about what went into making that type of food.

Each emulsifier is given a standard code and number. These have been approved by the European Union (EU), the New Zealand Food Safety Association, as well as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Those that start with the letter “E” are those that have been approved by the EU. The numbers may appear without the “E” in other parts of the world.


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     Here’s a list of the most common types of vegan emulsifiers found in food products, and their number codes found on food labels.

 

  • Soy Lecithin = E322
  • Agar-agar = E406
  • Xanthan Gum = E415
  • Guar Gum = E412
  • Acacia Gum (also known as gum Arabic powder) = E414
  • Gellan Gum = E418

 

Research of emulsifiers :

In the developing world, there is much research are going on and emulsifiers also one topic for researchers and many research is going on this topic but NIZO is doing something different research on low carbon emulsifiers and less fat as well.

New studies at NIZO they are focusing on ways to stabilize water-in-water emulsions for applications that consist of low-fat food. To meet the demand for label-friendly meals additives in such food products, these stabilizers are based on zein – a naturally occurring insoluble plant protein – that researchers have made dispersible in water the use of a brand new technique.

They mainly doing this to add emulsifiers in healthy eating plan,

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Reducing fats content even as maintaining mouthfeel

The health risks related to fat intake have created a demand for low-fat options for many food products. However, the texture – or mouthfeel – of excessive-fat products inclusive of mayonnaise, salad dressing, and sauces rely on oil globules destabilizing within the mouth, thereby coating the tongue with a film of oil. to consumer acceptance of reduced-fat products, this creamy or fatty mouthfeel is a key factor.

Food producers, consequently, emulate this texture via replacing oil-in-water emulsions with water-in-oil-in-water emulsions (so-called ‘double emulsions’) or even water-in-water emulsions. Emulsions that deviate from the classical oil-in-water or water-in-oil sample demand new kinds of emulsifiers. Many classical emulsifiers are indexed as E-numbers and are consequently label-unfriendly. This need for brand spanking new sorts of emulsifiers has led us to explore herbal, plant-based totally applicants that haven't any E-variety.

mayonnaise
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Developing label-friendly low-carbon emulsifiers

NIZO is presently growing low-fat emulsions that now not simplest create the identical texture as oil-containing emulsions but additionally make use of plant-derived emulsifiers in place of those derived from animal merchandise. In this, we are following a general trend in the food enterprise to emerge as greater sustainable. The use of vegetable source ingredients contributes to greener food industries and takes account of clients’ tendency to be cautious of elements with E numbers. The move closer to plant-derived meals additives is likewise in line with the emerging concept of “waste move” valorization, i.e. Extracting price from natural waste.

The demand for natural raw materials without E numbers that have a decrease carbon footprint than traditional materials is growing in all branches of food technology. After all, the amount of fossil gas required to provide animal protein for human intake is a ways more than that required for the production of plant proteins.

Are Emulsifiers Safe?

Then after all that we still think or searching for emulsifiers that they are safe or not then, Emulsifiers are generally considered safe by medical experts. If they weren’t safe, they wouldn’t be allowed in our food by organizations like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The only potential problem is that synthetic emulsifiers may gradually get stored in our bodies and accumulate over the years. This could be a problem because synthetic emulsifiers are so common in the packaged and processed foods we eat.

With natural emulsifiers, however, we don’t face that problem at all. In fact, each of the vegan emulsifiers has there owned health benefits and without risk. 


         after all these things people still have their choices in their healthy life,, then just stay healthy with good food and a good mood.




References:


https://www.iamgoingvegan.com/vegan-emulsifiers-a-full-guide/


https://www.nizo.com/cases/plant-based-emulsifiers-are-paving-the-way-for-oil-free-emulsions/ 

 



 


 


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