Scientists in the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have developed an inexpensive pectin, which can gel in low sugar products and is scalable for commercial production.
Pectin is a soluble fibre, or polysaccharide, naturally found in fruits and vegetables. It is used as a thickener in cooking and baking, and for gelling food products like jams. Most commercial pectins are made from citrus fruit peels and are extracted into a powder to act as a gelling agent in foods.
US Horticultural Research Laboratory chemist, Wei Zhao, said that most commercially-available pectins successfully gel only when combined with high sugar products and acid.
“For people seeking low sugar foods, most commercial pectins will not gel properly since a lot of sugar is needed for the gelling process,” said Zhao.
“There are some commercial pectins that can gel in low sugar foods, but these alternatives tend to be low quality, are quite expensive to produce, and may contain undesirable residues.”
In a recent study published in Food Hydrocolloids, Zhao and other ARS researchers found that pectin could be extracted from pre-treated orange peel using a standard commercial method, which gives it the structural properties needed for gelling low sugar products without residue.
The global market for pectin recently surpassed one billion US dollars per year and is expected to reach over two billion by 2025. The increasing demand for low sugar food products makes the research team’s pectin a desirable option for consumers.
“Our research findings reveal the great potential of producing low-cost, high-quality pectins with increased gelling capacity by adding a simple high-pressure processing pre-treatment of fresh source material for pectin extraction,” said Zhao.
The study was done in collaboration with researchers from the ARS Western Regional Research Center in Albany, California, and ARS Eastern Regional Research Center in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania.
ARS national program leader for nutrition, food safety, and quality, Jonn Foulk, said that their work demonstrates the first-class teamwork and collaborative partnership between ARS researchers.
“This work expanded and leveraged multidisciplinary expertise and resources between multiple geographically diverse (Florida, California, and Pennsylvania) locations to maximise research impact and expedite development of biobased innovations to address the evolving needs of the agricultural industry,” said Foulk.
