ABSTRACT
Even though many food-grade surfactants are designated by a particular commercial or chemical name (such as Tween 20 or Polyoxyethylene [20] sorbitan monolaurate), it is important to note that they are actually compositionally complex mixtures of various kinds of molecules. The main reason for this heterogeneity is that food-grade surfactants are produced industrially by chemical processes utilizing a variety of different raw materials, such as fats, oils, glycerol, organic acids, sugars, and polyols (Kralova and Sjoblom 2009). This compositional heterogeneity can have a large impact on their functional performance in food products and on their ability to form colloidal delivery systems. In addition, there may be considerable batch-to-batch variations in the composition of commercial surfactants and they may chemically degrade during storage (e.g., because of oxidation or hydrolysis).
