Level: Beginner
Pectin is a thickening polysaccharide found in fruits such as apples and citrus fruits, and in Japan it is used as a food additive to gel jams and other products.
The purpose of this study was to rapidly estimate the degree of esterification (DE), an important gelation index for pectin.
Pectin is an acidic polysaccharide with a main chain made of polymerized galacturonic acid with carboxyl groups. Some of the carboxyl groups are methyl esterified, and the percentage of these is called DE. Pectin is broadly classified into High methoxyl (HM) pectin and Low methoxyl (LM) pectin based on DE, and they have different gelling mechanisms.
LM pectin gels when its carboxyl groups are cross-linked by metal ions such as calcium to form a network, so its gelling properties vary greatly depending on DE. Therefore, DE is a very important gelling indicator. However, the common DE measurement methods, titration and colorimetry, have issues such as long work times and inconsistencies due to the skill of the operator.
In this study, we analyzed the absorption spectrum data of pectin obtained by measurement with a Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FT-IR) using PLS regression, a multivariate analysis method, and constructed a DE estimation model. This made it possible to quickly and easily estimate the DE of pectin with unknown molecular structure by measuring it with FT-IR.
He completed his master's course at Tokyo Graduate School of Marine Science and Technology in 2013, and joined Unitec Foods Co., Ltd. in the same year. After working in the Technology Development Department, he has been in the Research and Development Department since 2020.
Unitec Foods Co., Ltd.'s main business is to collect pectin and other hydrocolloids, natural food ingredients, and functional ingredients from overseas ingredient manufacturers, and to provide and sell them to domestic food manufacturers along with know-how on how to utilize them, and is involved in the development of products that utilize these ingredients, quality improvement, research, etc. Currently, the company is mainly researching the molecular structure of pectin and the resulting changes in physical properties, and uses statistical analysis with JMP for its analysis.
