Effect of Ozonation on Selected Properties of Starches

Ozone is a powerful oxidant due to its high reactivity, penetrability, and spontaneous decomposition to a non-toxic product. There are many applications of ozone in water treatment. Ozone was approved as a strong antimicrobial agent for food processing as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the U.S. in 1997. Now, the food industry is greatly interested in using ozone to prolong the shelf-life and safety of food products. Starch is an essential component of cereals and widely used in food, paper, textile and pharmaceutical industries. Especially, oxidized starch use in food industry is increasing because of its low viscosity, high stability, clarity, film forming and binding properties, which has been applied in food coatings, sealing agents in confectionery and as emulsifiers. The effects of ozonation on the physico-chemical properties, microbiological properties, pasting properties, rheological properties, structure properties and gelatinization properties of certain types of starch (i.e. wheat starch, corn starch, potato starch and rice starch) were investigated in this book.