Thickening and Gelling Agents for Food

Abstract

For more than 2000 years connective tissues and products extracted from them have been used in the home and in the food industry for their gelling properties, and also as technical products in the form of adhesives. Availability and product consistency improved when industrial-scale gelatin manufacture appeared at the end of the nineteenth century. More recently, an improved knowledge of amino acids and proteins in general, and of collagen and gelatin in particular, together with the introduction of modern production techniques, has made it possible to produce gelatin which is bacteriologically safe and in accordance with international standards and rigid specifications.