Viscoelastic characterization of fluid and gel like food emulsions stabilized with hydrocolloids

Food emulsions exhibit a great diversity of rheological characteristics; hydrocolloids are usually added to deal with creaming instability. Viscoelastic measurements provide information about the microstructure of the system. The objectives of this work were: a) to determine the viscoelastic behavior of two different low in fat oil-in-water food emulsions: a gel like and a fluid type emulsions stabilized with hydrocolloids (gellan gum and xanthan-guar mixtures respectively) b) to model and predict the mechanical relaxation spectrum for both emulsions and continuous aqueous phases. Low-in-fat oil-in-water emulsions (20 g/100 g) were prepared using sunflower oil and Tween 80 (1 wt.%). Fluid emulsions containing xanthan and guar gums were formulated using a synergistic ratio 7:3, with total hydrocolloid concentration ranging between 0.5 to 2 wt%. The aqueous phases contained NaCl (2 wt.%) and acetic acid (2 wt.%). The effect of hydrocolloids was studied using oscillatory measurements (G’ and G” vs. frequency) within the linear viscoelastic range previously determined by stress-sweeps. Time-Concentration Superposition principle was applied to find the master curves that describe the mechanical spectra of the viscoelastic materials. Superposition allows to obtain a wide spectrum of nearly ten decades of frequencies in emulsions containing xanthan–guar mixtures, whereas gellan gum systems did not show a significant frequency displacement. Viscoelastic behavior of the systems was satisfactorily modeled using Baumgaertel-Schausberger-Winter (BSW) equation. This empirical model was used to predict the mechanical relaxation spectrum for both emulsions and continuous aqueous phases. Validation of the predicted spectra was carried out through creep compliance data for emulsion-filled gels and steady-state flow curves for emulsions containing xanthan–guar mixtures.