DISCUSSION

Hydrocolloids have been widely used in beverage and juice, mostly to function
rheological modifiers, suspension agents and stabilizers (Somogyi, 1996). Hydrocolloid
interacted with protein in aqueous solution and influenced stability properties in three different
ways. Low concentration of gum with net repulsive reaction led to miscibility, whereas high
concentration with net attractive reaction led to coacervation (complexation). Thermodynamic
incompatibility caused a separated phase of protein and hydrocolloid-riched phases (Dickinson,
2003).
In this experiment, the pineapple juice was an acidic beverages so due to the low pH in
this beverage, sedimentation is usual problem and therefore hydrocolloid is added as a
stabilizer. Among the 5 formulations that were used, formulation 5 resulted in too much
sediment because of the amount of xanthan gum used, therefore making it less accepted to
consumers. For the first formulation, 0.2% concentrations of xanthan gum was added into the
pineapple juice to analyzed the difference of the juice, hence making it the most accepted
because of the no sediment and average viscosity.
Xanthan gum is an extracellular heteropolysaccharide, widely used in food industry due
to its stability towards temperature, ionic strength, pH, enzymatic and chemical reactivity
(Liang et al., 2006). Xanthan gum formed weak gels and exhibited mouth-feel. Thus, it has been
widely used in healthy lifestyle beverage to perceive natural juice feeling (Beristain et al.,
2006). Xanthan gum had high viscosity at low shear rate, thus it provided limitation in food
application. When two anionic hydrocolloids were used, repulsion of protein-protein
electrostatic was encouraged and reduced protein-hydrocolloid attraction. However, xanthan
gum showed synergies with other natural water soluble polymers such as guar gum and locust
bean gum, resulting in the increased viscosity (Dickinson, 2003).
From the result, compared with CMC, xanthan gum gave a more viscous product. This
can be seen in formulation 5 which have 12.2647g of 0.3% xanthan gum and result in a more
viscous product, compared to formulation 3 which only uses 0.2% xanthan gum. Xanthan gum
is a branched hydrocolloid with more branches and longer branches than those in the other types
of gum, which means it can form many hydrogen bonds and greatly increase the viscosity. The
amount of CMC required for good stability depends on the soluble solid content of the drink
and the level of dilution before consumption. Products containing large amounts of soluble
solids are viscous and require only a small amount of CMC. By contrast, large amounts of CMC
can be used to create texture in products containing few soluble solids. As well as stabilizing
fruit pulp, CMC reduces or prevents the formation of oil rings around the neck of the bottle.
CMC is added to the product after any preservatives, colors, or flavors. 12.338g of 0.2% CMC
is only added in formulation 2, which resulted in a less sweet taste and average viscosity.
The stability of turbidity tended to increase as the storage time lengthened, which
suggests that the pineapple juice separate more over time. The juice that have separated have
lower turbidity because they are more transparent to light than products with less separation.
Therefore, the turbidity decreased as separation of the product increased. When considering the
relationship between viscosity and turbidity, products with higher viscosity also had higher
turbidity. So, from this statement it can be conclude that pineapple juice that stored in the
container for five hours indicates the higher viscosity and turbidity. This is because the time for
the separation was in short period so the juice that not have enough time to separate and affect
the viscosity and also the turbidity increase. When choosing a stabilizer, the effect it has on the
viscosity and the turbidity must be taken into consideration. In particular, the viscosity can
affect the acceptance of the product by consumers. While the addition of a stabilizer may
improve the stability, if it is highly viscous, it may not be acceptable to consumers.