ABSTRACT
Extracellular polysaccharides (EPSs) of microorganisms from non-marine habitats have been used as additives in the food, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical elds for several years. Some of these compounds are xanthan, pullulan, levan, and curdlan. The advantages of these compounds include easy production by controlled fermentation of the microorganisms, potential improvement of their functionalities by chemical modications, biodegradability, nontoxicity, and comparatively low prices. Because of these advantages, microbial EPSs, apart from their use in foods, have found applications in other areas, including biotechnology, textiles, medicine, drug delivery, oil recovery, water purication, and metal removal in mining and industrial waste treatments. Most of these applications take advantage of their rheological properties, ability to form hydrogels, and stability at high temperatures and variable pH conditions.1-3 This chapter discusses the potential applications of both non-marine and marine EPSs in food product development. It is presumed that some discussion of non-marine polysaccharides will be benecial to understanding and exploring the variety of ways marine exopolysaccharides can be utilized (see Table 8.1).
