What are Stabilizing Agents? What does FSSAI say?

Stabilizing agents are used for a number of functions in foods and the main function is to act as a thickening agent to gel the foods into the required consistency. Most stabilizing and thickening agents are polysaccharides (a kind of carbohydrate) examples of which are starches, gums, or proteins like gelatin. Stabilizing agents like starch and gum are frequently used in salad dressings, frozen desserts, confections, snack foods, beverages, cereal products, pudding mixes, jams and jellies.

The European Food Information Council defines stabilizers as “substances which make it possible to maintain the physico-chemical state of a foodstuff; stabilizers include substances which enable the maintenance of a homogenous dispersion of two or more immiscible substances in a foodstuff and include also substances which stabilize, retain or intensify an existing colour of a foodstuff.”

Are stabilizers natural?

When processing natural food products the gums and starches are not chemically modified. In fact they are isolated from plants so that they can be formed into a more concentrated and commercially viable additive. Starch and gum polysaccharides are isolated from the original plant and even from seaweeds. Some seaweed extracts, such as agar, carrageenan, pectins and alginates, work as gelling agents in pie fillings, in icings and glazed foods.

Starch has three categories

• Pure starch of Native starch is insoluble in water and alcohol and is used in the food industry for binding and thickening purposes.
• When pure starch is modified it is called modified starch and the additive is then used for processing foods according to the technological requirements in cooking, freezing, thawing, canning and sterilisation. It is also used as per requirement in microwaveable and instant foods. Modified starch makes these various foods preparations easier, preserves food and brings stability to processed foods. Hydrocolloid gums combined with unmodified starches helps to retain moisture, reduce ice crystal growth, act as suspending and adhesive agents, stabilize foam and emulsions, and improve freeze or thaw stability.
• There are also starch sweeteners or glucose syrups. These are used in beverages and confectionery products to sweeten them, stabilize colour and flavor and improve the texture.

Need for stabilising agents in food processing

Different foods have different textures so stabilisers and thickeners are also not the same. Only those stabilizers are used in a particular food which is effective in creating the kind of consistency that is required. Gelatin and agar both produces different textures when used on foods. Different methods of food processing are also used on different foods so the stabilizers used also differ. If the food is to be hot set then stabilizer used will normally be pectin and for cold gelling alginate is used. Certain foods are treated with gum stabilizers, some with starch, phosphates etc.

For pasteurisation of milk a different stabilizer will be used unlike for chocolate milk which will require a stabiliser to ensure that the cocoa particles in the chocolate milk do not separate. Phosphates are used in casein protein when it is being thermally processed as retorted milk because that improves the quality and shelf life of the product. Phosphates are also used with other dairy products as it mixes with the gelatin in the milk to have a gelling effect even without heat treatment and so they are also used for instant pudding formulas. In ice-cream manufacture generally a mixture of stabilisers are used as that is more effective than a single stabiliser. In meat processed products stabilisers have the ability to bind muscle portions, particles and moisture to form a stable processed meat. This is specially required for finely ground or comminuted meat, poultry and seafood to make nuggets, sausages; so that even when cooked they remain intact and do not separate.

FSSAI has not discussed the stabilising agents individually in the regulations but stabilizing agents have been discussed along with the emulsifying agents under Regulation no. 3.1.6 of FSS (Food Products Standards & Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 as “Emulsifying and Stabilising agents” so the limits, restrictions and permits will be the same as for emulsifying agents.