Stability of O/W emulsions prepared using various monoacyl sugar alcohols as an emulsifier

The emulsifying, emulsion-stabilizing and retort-resistant abilities of the monolauroyl and monomyristoyl esters of glycerol, erythritol, arabitol, ribitol, xylitol and sorbitol, and of monodecanoyl and monopalmitoyl esters of glycerol, erythritol and xylitol were examined. All the esters showed an emulsifying ability for preparation of an oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion, the oil phase of which was soybean oil, by a two-step emulsification method using rotor/stator and high-pressure homogenizers. The median diameters of the oil droplets in the emulsions prepared with the erythritol and sorbitol esters were in a range of 1.6 to 2.0 μm. The monolauroyl and monomyristoyl erythritols had a high emulsion-stabilizing ability, especially at 4 °C. No esters had the ability to prevent demulsification for storage at − 30 °C. The erythritol esters with acyl chain lengths of 10 to 16 also possessed a high ability to protect the emulsion for retort treatment at 121 °C for 10 min. Based on these experiments, the monoacyl erythritols were found to be very promising emulsifiers.Industrial relevanceEmulsifiers play important roles in dispersed food systems due to their emulsifying, emulsion-stabilizing and retort-resistant abilities. The sugar esters and monoacyl glycerols or diglycerols are commonly used in the food industry. Although the monoacyl sugar alcohols are also surface active and seem to be promising food emulsifiers, no systematic studies have been done on their application as food emulsifiers. This study estimated the abilities of various monoacyl sugar alcohols.