Xanthan gum is produced from fermentation medium containing sugars (such as glucose, sucrose, starch, hydrolyzed starch, etc.) in the presence of a suitable nitrogen source, dipotassium hydrogen phosphate and appropriate trace elements. Strains function, fermentation, and then after extraction, drying, crushing and other procedures.

Xanthan gum is tasteless, odorless, non-toxic, safe to eat, and easily soluble in water. It presents polyanions in aqueous solution and has unique physical and chemical properties. In industrial production, it is mainly used as a thickener, but also as a suspending agent, emulsifier, and stabilizer. So far, xanthan gum is considered to be the most superior biological glue in the world. It is widely used in food, fruit juice, beverage, feed, cosmetics, medicine, ceramics, fire protection, petroleum and other industries. Its market growth potential exceeds all Hydrophilic glue. This article reviews the structure, properties and production of xanthan gum, and describes the application of xanthan gum in the food industry.



Application of Xanthan Gum in Food

Xanthan gum is known as "industrial monosodium glutamate" and is currently the worlds largest production and most widely used microbial polysaccharide. It mainly has the following properties.



(1) Xanthan gum is tasteless, odorless, has strong application safety, and has high viscosity. The viscosity of 1% aqueous solution is equivalent to 100 times that of gelatin, so it can be used as a good thickening and stabilizer.



(3) Unique rheology. Under shearing action, the viscosity of the solution will drop rapidly. Once the shearing action is relieved, the viscosity of the solution will immediately recover. This characteristic gives foods such as ice cream, ham, fruit juice and vegetable protein. Beverages and baked goods have a good taste. This characteristic also makes xanthan gum widely used in oil drilling and exploitation.



(4) Good thermal stability, maintaining unique functions in a wide temperature range (-18-130°C). It is a good auxiliary material for the production of frozen foods and baked foods.



(5) Acid-base stability, its viscosity is basically not affected by acid-base, and the original characteristics can be maintained within the range of PH value of 1-12, so that it has a wide range of applications.



(6) It has strong anti-oxidation and anti-enzymatic effects, and can still play a role even in the presence of sodium hypochlorite, hydrogen peroxide, and biologically active enzymes.



(7) It has wide compatibility. The mixture with guar gum and locust bean gum can produce beneficial synergistic effects. This kind of structural glue can produce gel effect under certain conditions.



(8) When coexisting with high-concentration salts and sugars, it still maintains a stable thickening system.



(9) It has good suspension for insoluble solid particles and oil droplets.



(10) Microwave stability. The stable system that has been formed will not affect its performance even if it is frozen or thawed in a microwave oven.



(11) Good compatibility with salts, acids and bases, and good reactivity with galacto-mannan.



Xanthan gum has been accepted by many countries as a food additive. It has become an important stabilizer, suspending agent, emulsifier, thickener, binder and processing raw material with high added value and high quality in the fields of beverages, cakes, jelly, canned food, seafood and meat products processing. It can be summarized as the following aspects.



The stabilizing effect of xanthan gum is significantly better than other gums, and it has strong thermal stability. General high-temperature sterilization will not affect it. It can be used in various fruit juice drinks, pulp drinks, vegetable protein drinks, etc., with a dosage of 0.08-0.3 . Xanthan gums excellent salt resistance, acid and alkali resistance can completely replace the traditional thickener starch in soy sauce. It can overcome the shortcomings of starch precipitation, and can make soy sauce fine and uniform, improve wall-hanging and coloring properties, and extend shelf life . For jam, bean paste and other flavored sauces, xanthan gum is used as a thickening stabilizer to make the sauce uniform, good spreadability, no agglomeration, easy to fill, and improve the taste.



Xanthan gum is used as an emulsifier in various protein beverages and milk beverages to prevent oily water layer and improve protein stability, prevent protein precipitation, and can also use its emulsifying ability as a foaming agent and foam stabilizer, such as Beer manufacturing, etc. After adding 0.02% xanthan gum to the emulsification system based on legume protein, the emulsification is obviously improved, and the mixed system has a high shear rate and heat-induced high viscosity characteristics.

Xanthan gum, as a stable high-viscosity filler, can be widely used in the processing of various snacks, breads, biscuits, candies and other foods. Without changing the traditional flavor of the food, the food has superior shape retention. Longer shelf life and better taste are conducive to the diversification and industrial-scale production of these foods. In the production of various frozen foods, xanthan gum has the functions of preventing its loss of water, delaying aging, and extending the shelf life.



Xanthan gum is used as an emulsion stabilizer in frozen foods. In ice cream and ice cream, xanthan gum can adjust the viscosity of the mixture, so that it has a uniform and stable composition, and the tissue is soft and soft. Due to the relationship between the viscosity of xanthan gum and temperature, it is plastic And the shear performance, so the viscosity decreases during the processing operation, and the resistance is reduced, which is beneficial to the process. In the cooling and aging stage, the viscosity is restored, which is beneficial to increase the expansion rate, prevent the formation of large ice crystals in the ice cream tissue, and make the ice cream taste smooth exquisite. At the same time, the freeze-thaw stability of the product is improved, and the cream and water are evenly mixed when melting, and no slurry separation phenomenon occurs. The general aging time is 2～3h. The dosage is 0.2% to 0.4%.

Xanthan gum can cross-link some water-soluble powder substances, such as sodium alginate, casein, methyl cellulose and polyethylene glycol cellulose sodium salt, to make a binder. This adhesive is used in food processing to improve texture and increase film-forming properties. This property of xanthan gum can be used to make granular pastes. Compared with traditional pastes, pastes made of xanthan gum have low scattering properties, high uniformity and solubility, good fluidity and filling performance, and excellent solid storage properties due to non-cohesiveness.