THE USE OF THERMAL-ANALYSIS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF FROZEN FOOD STABILITY

Reactions causing deleterious changes in texture, structure and chemical composition of frozen foods occur frequently and result in a loss of quality or shelf-life. Polysaccharides, e.g., guar, locust bean gum, are added to many frozen food formulations at low concentrations and are effective at stabilizing products against rapid ice crystal growth. During freezing, an unfrozen phase (UFP) containing a high concentration of dissolved solutes is formed as water is separated from solution in the form of ice. This UFP is capable of undergoing a glass transition at low temperatures. Thermal analysis techniques (DSC, TMA, DEA) have been used extensively in the determination of thermal and physical properties at subzero temperatures for a number of model systems and frozen foods and in the elucidation of mechanisms of polysaccharide action.