Importance of emulsifiers in manufacturing milk-containing products

Currently, the food industry extensively uses emulsifiers in manufacturing a wide range of food products. For a long time, emulsifiers have been delivered from abroad, thus, nowadays, one of the main problems in the Russian ingredient market is its dependence on their import. Emulsifiers play a decisive role in manufacturing milk-containing products; they stabilize the mixture of the water and fat phases, which naturally separates. Emulsifiers prevent this separation and make a stable emulsion. In ice cream, spreads and other milk-containing products with milk fat substitutes, manufactured according to the technology of ice cream, cheese, processed cheese, cottage cheese and sour cream, emulsifiers provide a smooth texture of the finished product, an increased shelf life and improved sensory properties. Most often, such emulsifiers as lecithin, mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids and polysorbates used in the products help maintain consistency and prevent unwanted changes in texture or appearance, ensuring high quality of the finished product. Taking into account their great significance in the formation of the product structure and quality, it seems to be expedient to develop domestic production of emulsifiers based on effective processes in their manufacture as well as knowledge of their properties and specific effects of emulsifiers of different compositions on the finished product.