Despite the many advances in food manufacturing, the process of dispersing powders in liquids remains a challenge. Without proper dispersion, powders like food gums form lumps which can cause production issues, including:
- Clogging pumps and filters, resulting in production slow downs
- Hydrating incompletely, possibly leading to quality variations between batches and increasing the need to rework out of spec product
Several techniques have been employed over the years in an effort to reduce lumping, including slurrying the gum with oil and preblending the dry ingredients before addition to the mixing tank but these production techniques have shown mixed results. However, manufacturers see nearly immediate and dramatic process improvements when they switch from powdered gums to agglomerated gums.
This episode of our Basics of Food Gums video series explores the benefits of using agglomerated gums.
Videos in the Basics of Food Gums Series
- Introduction (video runtime 2:27)
- Gum Arabic: Tree Saps & Plant Exudates (video runtime 3:07)
- Guar Gum: Seed Gums (video runtime 3:37)
- Carrageenan, Agar, & Alginate: Seaweed Extracts (video runtime 3:10)
- Konjac & Inulin: Root Gums (video runtime 3:07)
- Xanthan Gum & Gellan Gum: Fermentation Gums (video runtime 3:30)
- Cellulose & Pectin: Plant Derivatives (video runtime 3:22)
- Agglomerated Gums (this video, video runtime 3:54)
