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Gels
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Modification of Gels in Creating New Food Products (2nd Edition)
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Modification of Gels in Creating New Food Products (2nd Edition)

A special issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861). This special issue belongs to the section "Gel Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 1476

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Anna Florowska

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Food Technology and Assessment, Institute of Food Science, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 02-787 Warszawa, Poland
Interests: gels; hydrogels; emulsion; functional food ingredients; functional food; prebiotics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Tomasz Florowski

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Food Technology and Assessment, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 02-787 Warszawa, Poland
Interests: food gels; meat; functional meat products; pork
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue “Modification of Gels in Creating New Food Products (2nd Edition)” in the journal Gels is dedicated to providing a comprehensive collection of recent advances in the field of food gels. Gels, being a semi-solid colloidal or polymer network, have various applications in food. Their properties and the various possibilities and options for their usage depend on the interactions between their components, mechanisms, or conditions of gelation. The properties of gels can also be modified by polymer concentration, temperature, pH, or ionic strength. The fact that many factors influence the characteristics of gels in food systems makes it possible to adapt their properties to the type of food product. Recent research on food gels focuses on the application of natural plant-origin polysaccharides or proteins as polymer components, the investigation of the gel formation mechanism, their properties, and their stability. New analytical methods are also being developed to study gels in food systems. By the act of creating new food products, producers are attempting to fulfill consumers’ requests and requirements. Thanks to their ability to immobilize large amounts of water, their low calorie density, appealing taste, and society-enhancing properties, gels are good materials for novel, functional food production. They can be some of the most in-demand low-calorie, pro-healthy, sustainable, and zero-waste foods. Therefore, in the field of new product development, gels can play the following important roles: they are novel, biocompatible, biodegradable, edible encapsulation materials; delivery agents for bioactive compounds; products that control digestive or retention properties; and even substrates for 3D printing. Edible gels also have potential application in smart packaging, including biosensor-based packaging.

About the first edition, it publishes 11 papers, which you can find it at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/gels/special_issues/IZ48E18281.

The second edition of this Special Issue still aims to present the research on the recent advances in novel food gels created by using novel ingredients and innovative methods of gel induction, as well as new methods for analyzing the properties of gels or products made with food gels.

Dr. Anna Florowska
Dr. Tomasz Florowski
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Gels is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • food gels
  • hydrogels
  • emulgels
  • oleogels
  • aerogels
  • natural biopolymers
  • food gel product design
  • functional food
  • control digestive or retention
  • gel property analysis
  • textural stability and sensory properties
  • smart packaging

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 2872 KB  
Article
Moisture Sorption Isotherms of Fructooligosaccharide and Inulin Powders and Their Gelling Competence in Delaying the Retrogradation of Rice Starch
by Bing Dai, Ruijun Chen, Zheng Wei, Jianzhang Wu and Xingjun Li
Gels 2025, 11(10), 817; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels11100817 - 12 Oct 2025
Viewed by 329
Abstract
The accurate determination of the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of gel-related powdery samples requires strictly controlled conditions and a long time period. In this study, the adsorption and desorption isotherms of two fructooligosaccharide (FOS) powders and three inulin powders were determined using a [...] Read more.
The accurate determination of the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of gel-related powdery samples requires strictly controlled conditions and a long time period. In this study, the adsorption and desorption isotherms of two fructooligosaccharide (FOS) powders and three inulin powders were determined using a dynamic moisture sorption analyzer at 0.1–0.9 water activity (aw) and 20–35 °C, respectively. The adsorption and desorption isotherms all exhibited type IIa sigmoidal curves; the desorptive isotherm was smooth, the FOS adsorption curves had three inflection points, and the inulin adsorption curves had five inflection points. Large hysteresis between the adsorption and desorption isotherms occurred at 0.1–0.7 aw for FOS and 0.1–0.6 aw for inulin. Seven equations, Boquet, Ferro–Fontan, Guggenheim–Anderson–de Boer (GAB), Generalized D’Arcy and Watt (GDW), modified GAB (MGAB), Peleg, and our developed Polynomial, were found to fit the isotherms of the FOS and inulin samples; for adsorption, the best equations were Ferro–Fontan and GDW, and for desorption, the best equations were Polynomial and MGAB. The GDW and MGAB equations could not distinguish the effect of temperature on the isotherms, while the Polynomial equation could. The mean adsorptive monolayer moisture content (M0) values in FOS and inulin samples were predicted as 7.29% and 7.94% wet basis, respectively. The heat of moisture sorption of FOS and inulin approached that of pure water at about 32.5% and 22.5% wet basis (w.b.) moisture content (MC), respectively. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) showed that the peaks in inulin with absorbance values above 0.52 and in FOS with absorbance values above 0.35 were at 1020, 1084, and 337 cm−1; these could represent the amorphous structure (primary alcohol C-OH), C-O group, and hydroxyl functional group, respectively. Microscopic structure analysis showed that inulin powder particles were more round-shaped and adhered together, resulting in hygroscopic and sticky characteristics, with a maximum equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of 34% w.b. In contrast, the FOS powders exhibited irregular amorphous particles and a maximum EMC of 60% w.b. As hydrogels, 3–10% FOS or inulin addition reduced the peak, trough, final, breakdown, and setback viscosities of rice starch pasting, but increased the peak time and pasting temperature. FOS addition gave stronger reduction in the setback viscosity and in amylose retrogradation of rice starch pasting than inulin addition. The differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) showed 3–10% FOS addition reduced the amylopectin aging of retrograded paste of rice starch, but 5–7% inulin addition tended to reduce. These results suggest that FOS and inulin have strong hygroscopic properties and can be used to maintain the freshness of starch-based foods. These data can be used for drying, storage, and functional food design of FOS and inulin products. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modification of Gels in Creating New Food Products (2nd Edition))
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26 pages, 3636 KB  
Article
Effect of Sodium Alginate Concentration on the Physicochemical, Structural, Functional Attributes, and Consumer Acceptability of Gel Beads Encapsulating Tangerine Peel (Citrus reticulata Blanco ‘Cho Khun’) Extract
by Karthikeyan Venkatachalam, Narin Charoenphun, Chawakwan Nitikornwarakul and Somwang Lekjing
Gels 2025, 11(10), 808; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels11100808 - 9 Oct 2025
Viewed by 619
Abstract
The effect of varying sodium alginate (SA) concentrations (1%, 2%, and 3%; SA1–SA3) on the encapsulation of tangerine (Citrus reticulata Blanco ‘Cho Khun’) peel extract (TPE, 0.5% w/v) into hydrogel beads was evaluated. Overall, the results showed that increasing [...] Read more.
The effect of varying sodium alginate (SA) concentrations (1%, 2%, and 3%; SA1–SA3) on the encapsulation of tangerine (Citrus reticulata Blanco ‘Cho Khun’) peel extract (TPE, 0.5% w/v) into hydrogel beads was evaluated. Overall, the results showed that increasing SA concentration significantly altered bead characteristics: lightness (L*) decreased from 56.35 to 45.57, red-green axis (a*) shifted negatively from −1.32 to −6.87, and yellow-blue axis (b*) increased from −17.81 to 6.41. Moisture content (97.85% to 93.16%) and water activity (0.96 to 0.93) declined with higher SA, while hardness increased (4.12 to 5.17 g). ζ-potential values shifted from −29.10 mV (SA1) to −39.10 mV (SA3), confirming enhanced electrostatic stabilization. FTIR spectra revealed characteristic alginate functional groups, and morphological analysis showed smoother, denser beads at higher SA concentrations. Phenolic (47.86–48.51 mg GAE g−1 DW) and flavonoid (34.02–36.68 mg QE g−1 DW) contents were well-retained, supporting antioxidant activities (DPPH 70.34–72.54%; ABTS 65.66–66.91%). Antimicrobial tests demonstrated > 4-log reductions against E. coli and P. aeruginosa. Sensory evaluation revealed that higher SA concentrations improved texture and taste. Overall, SA encapsulation, particularly at 3%, effectively stabilized TPE, preserving its functional properties for potential food and nutraceutical applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modification of Gels in Creating New Food Products (2nd Edition))
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14 pages, 3757 KB  
Article
Effect of Vanillin and Chitin Particles on the Chitosan-Based Oleogels Produced by the Emulsion-Templated Method
by Leticia Montes, Sofía Viciana, Daniel Franco, Jorge Sineiro and Ramón Moreira
Gels 2025, 11(10), 799; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels11100799 - 3 Oct 2025
Viewed by 316
Abstract
This study presents the first assessment of the combined effect of vanillin and chitin particles on the rheological, oil retention, textural, and oxidative properties of chitosan-based oleogels formulated with olive oil. Oleogels were prepared with and without vanillin; in the latter case, the [...] Read more.
This study presents the first assessment of the combined effect of vanillin and chitin particles on the rheological, oil retention, textural, and oxidative properties of chitosan-based oleogels formulated with olive oil. Oleogels were prepared with and without vanillin; in the latter case, the vanillin-to-chitosan ratio was kept constant (1.3), while chitin concentrations (% w/w) were variable (0.0, 0.5, 1.5, and 2.0). Fresh oleogels and those stored for 15 days were characterized. Results demonstrated that vanillin promotes the formation of compact viscoelastic networks, enhances the elastic modulus by approximately 1.3 times, improves oil binding capacity from 75.1% to 89.2%, and significantly improves oxidative stability by minimizing lipid degradation. In contrast, the influence of chitin was dependent on its content and the presence of vanillin. At intermediate content, chitin positively affected cohesiveness and elasticity, particularly in vanillin-free systems. However, in formulations containing vanillin, even low chitin concentration disrupted the gel network, leading to a decrease in hardness, low oil retention, and a higher oxidation degree. Significant correlations between hardness and elastic modulus, oil binding capacity, adhesiveness, and damping factor were obtained for fresh and stored oleogels. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Modification of Gels in Creating New Food Products (2nd Edition))
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