Food Gels: Structure and Properties (2nd Edition)

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 1248

Special Issue Editor

College of Food Science, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
Interests: cellulose; protein; food colloids; emulsions; hydrogel; nanomaterials; interface interaction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recently, some food components (polysaccharides and proteins) have been found to have good gelling properties and form viscous dispersions and/or gels when dispersed in water. Generally, these food colloids also exhibit thickening, gelling, emulsifying, and stabilization properties. Gel formation is an interesting phenomenon that involves the association or cross-linking of polymer chains to form a three-dimensional network, which can trap or immobilize the water within it to form a rigid structure that is resistant to flow. For some typical food colloids, they become viscoelastic, exhibiting the characteristics of both a liquid and a solid, whose interactions mainly include physical interaction (e.g., chain entanglements, van der Waals forces, hydrogen bonds, ionic interactions) and/or chemical cross-linking. Notably, the textural and sensory properties of food gels depend on the type of hydrocolloid used, the selection of which is very important to the design of a specific food formulation. The common food colloids used as gelling agents include alginate, pectin, carrageenan, gellan, gelatin, agar, modified starch, methyl cellulose, and hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose, etc. In addition, some thickening-type colloids can induce gel formation, including starch, xanthan, guar gum, locust bean gum, gum tragacanth, and gum Arabic. Some other proteins or polysaccharides can also form gels under specific physical and/or chemical conditions.

This Special Issue focuses on the recent research and advances in food gels, including structure and applications. Additionally, we also welcome contributions regarding the preparation and characterization of food gels extracted from different raw materials.

Dr. Hongjie Dai
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • biopolymer
  • gel
  • hydrogel
  • structure
  • emulsion
  • food application
  • 3D printing
  • interaction

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

29 pages, 4113 KiB  
Review
The Beneficial Role of Polysaccharide Hydrocolloids in Meat Products: A Review
by Hanxiao Bao, Yuxi Wang, Yue Huang, Yuhao Zhang and Hongjie Dai
Gels 2025, 11(1), 55; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels11010055 - 10 Jan 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1023
Abstract
Polysaccharide hydrocolloids have garnered increasing attention from consumers, experts, and food processing industries due to their advantages of abundant resources, favorable thickening properties, emulsification stability, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and high acceptance as food additives. This review focuses on the application of polysaccharide hydrocolloids and [...] Read more.
Polysaccharide hydrocolloids have garnered increasing attention from consumers, experts, and food processing industries due to their advantages of abundant resources, favorable thickening properties, emulsification stability, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and high acceptance as food additives. This review focuses on the application of polysaccharide hydrocolloids and their beneficial roles in meat products by focusing on several commonly used polysaccharides (i.e., cellulose, chitosan, starch, sodium alginate, pectin, and carrageenan). Firstly, the recent advancements of polysaccharide hydrocolloids used in meat products are briefly introduced, along with their structure and potential application prospects. Then, the beneficial roles of polysaccharide hydrocolloids in meat products are comprehensively summarized and highlighted, including retarding lipid and protein oxidation, enhancing nutritional properties, improving texture and color quality, providing antibacterial activity, monitoring freshness, acting as a cryoprotectant, improving printability, and ensuring security. Finally, the challenges and opportunities of polysaccharide hydrocolloids in meat products are also introduced. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Gels: Structure and Properties (2nd Edition))
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