Bacterial cellulose for food applications

Abstract

Bacterial cellulose (BC), which is usually produced as pure membranes (sheets) by some bacteria, has been widely studied as a nanomaterial with unique properties for a variety of applications, but it has been actually used mostly for biomedical applications. There are many potential food applications that have not been adequately explored, nata de coco being virtually the only food product from BC on the market. Food applications have usually been considered as less economically feasible, but several studies had demonstrated the suitability of cost-effective fermentation media for producing BC, widening its scope of applications. BC may be used in foods as intact membranes impregnated with other components, or after disintegration or hydrolysis to produce bacterial cellulose nanofibrils or nanocrystals. Abrief overview of actual and potential applications of bacterial cellulose in food industry is presented.