ABSTRACT
Protein-polysaccharide interactions play a significant role in the structure and stability of many processed foods. The control or manipulation of these macromolecular interactions is a key factor in the development of novel food processes and products as well as in the formulation of fabricated food products. Functional properties of food proteins, such as solubility, surface activity, conformational stability, gel-forming ability, and emulsifying and foaming properties, are affected by their interactions with polysaccharides. Pioneering work in the systematic investigation of the interaction between proteins and anionic polysaccharides was performed by Bungenberg de Jong and colleagues. They showed that mixing aqueous solutions of gelatin and gum arabic resulted in two kinds of two-phase systems. The interaction between oppositely charged biopolymers is enhanced when the net opposite charges of biopolymers are increased and the ratio of net charges of the polymer reactants approaches unity.
