Oil-in-water emulsions stabilized by sodium caseinate: Influence of pH, high-pressure homogenization and locust bean gum addition

The effect of pH, addition of a thickening agent (locust bean gum) or high-pressure homogenization on the stability of oil-in-water emulsions added by sodium caseinate (Na-CN) was evaluated. For this purpose, emulsions were characterized by visual analysis, microstructure and rheological measurements. Most of the systems were not stable, showing phase separation a few minutes after emulsion preparation. However, creaming behavior was largely affected by the pH, homogenization pressure or locust bean gum (LBG) concentration. The most stable systems were obtained for emulsions homogenized at high pressure, containing an increased amount of LBG or with pH values close to the isoelectric point (pI) of sodium caseinate, which was attributed to the size reduction of the droplets, the higher viscosity of continuous phase and the emulsion gelation (elastic network formation), respectively. All the studied mechanisms were efficient to decrease the molecular mobility, which slowed down the phase separation of the emulsions. In addition, the use of sodium caseinate was also essential to stabilize the emulsions, since it promoted the electrostatic repulsive interactions between droplets.