The integrity of a food product is essential in delivering an outstanding experience to the customer. Over time, certain foods tend to lose their original structure: Oils will separate, ingredients will degrade, and some foods may actually change in shape.
To ensure food products maintain the highest possible quality in transit to the customer, manufacturers rely on food stabilizers. These substances extend the shelf life of many foods, and can be found in both cupboards and refrigerators across the nation.
Below is a look at the function of a stabilizer in food and an example of the breadth of PacMoore’s contract food ingredient manufacturing services.
What Is a Food Stabilizer?
A food stabilizer is an agent added to food products to help maintain or enhance their original texture, physical and chemical characteristics. They serve both the practical purpose of preservation while also making products far more appetizing to consumers.
What are stabilizers in the food manufacturing industry? They are a group of compounds in the same family as thickeners and gelling agents. Both manufactured and found in nature, these substances work at a particle level to maintain and intentionally alter a product’s viscosity. Some common examples of food stabilizers include pectin, lecithin and carrageenan. Many stabilizers resemble other common powders and liquids and can be easily blended into a food product.
What Food Products Use Food Stabilizers?
As noted above, one of the primary functions of a food stabilizer is to prevent oil and water separation. If you’ve ever had to vigorously mix a salad dressing, you’ve seen firsthand what oil and water separation looks like in a packaged food product. For salad eaters, it might simply be a nuisance, but on a larger scale, excessive separation could lead to product degradation.
For that reason, you’ll find stabilizers — sodium pyrophosphate, for example — in foods such as instant pudding or canned fish. Within those products, the stabilizer helps prevent a sludge-like build-up at the bottom of the container.
Another common stabilizer is carrageenan, which is extracted from moss and algae and commonly used in dairy products. It’s also a key stabilizer that gives ice cream its appetizing consistency.
These examples just scratch the surface. PacMoore’s ability to protect food from losing its shape and consistency makes it possible to feed consumers en masse.
PacMoore Is Your Source for Food Stabilizer Services
The professionals at PacMoore have been in this business for a long time, and we know which food stabilizers are best to use for any number of food products. Our expertise helps ensure your food products reach the customer as intended, while sufficiently extending the shelf life. Learn more about the food stabilization process and the wide range of food manufacturing services offered at PacMoore. Contact us today.