Gums and Stabilisers for the Food Industry 11

The breadth and depth of knowledge of gums and stabilisers has increased tremendously since the 1980s, with researchers in industry and academia collaborating to accelerate the growth. Bringing together contributions from international experts, this text presents research in the field of hydrocolloids used in food. The first section of the book investigates the advances in structure determination and characterisation of hydrocolloids, including the use of capillary electrophoresis. Later sections deal with rheological aspects of hydrocolloids in solutions and gels; the application of hydrocolloids in real food systems; and the interfacial behaviour and gelation of proteins. A discussion of the influence of hydrocolloids on human health is also included.

Author Biography

Peter A Williams is Professor of Polymer and Colloid Chemistry and Director of the Centre for Water Soluble Polymers at the North East Wales Institute. Has published over 170 scientific papers and edited over 30 books. He is Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Food Hydrocolloids. His research is in the area of physicochemical characterisation, solution properties and interfacial behaviour of both natural and synthetic polymers. Recent work has been involved with the determination of molecular mass distribution using flow field flow fractionation coupled to light scattering, rheological behaviour of polymer solutions and gels, associative and segregative interaction of polysaccharides, development of polysaccharide-protein complexes as novel emulsifiers.