Whey Protein Isolate-Starch System- A Critical Review (vol 3, 1, 2007)

The two biopolymer proteins and polysaccharides are the key structural entities in food and pharmaceutical products. The design for liquid and semi-solid foods processing involves a complex and combined operations of heat transfer and fluid mechanics. These are strongly influenced by the thermal transitions and the rheological behavior of processing foods. In the present review a systematic discussion about the gelation, rheology of modified starches, and whey protein isolates are highlighted with an emphasis on various physico-chemical interactive effects. The studies are extended to protein and polysaccharide interactions and phase separations involved in the mixed system. Then the review has been made on protein-polysaccharide mixed gel systems citing few examples from the literature with respect to calorimetric and rheological characterization. Modeling studies developed by researchers are presented. Further the studies are directed towards the importance and exploitation of starch - whey protein isolate system in food processing and pharmaceutical industry.