USE OF BACTERIAL NANOCELLULOSE AS ADDITIVE FOR FOOD.

M. CORRAL; P. CERRUTI; A. VÁZQUEZ; A. CALIFANO

Conferencia; II Workshop on Bio-degradable Polymers and Biocomposites III Workshop BIOPURFIL, Bio-based Polyurethane Composites with Natural Fillers; 2015

Bacterialnanocellulose (BNC) is a polymer with a morphologic structure of a 3-D network.Bacterialcellulose is a type of such dietary fiber, and regulatory is classified as?generally recognized as safe? (GRAS) and was accepted as such by the USA Foodand Drug Administration in 1992. The BNC is a dietary fiber which offers arange of health benefits.  BNC fibers canreduce the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovasculardisease, and diverticulitis [1]. Shiet al. [2] andStröm et al. [3]have reviewed the potential use of nanocellulose for food applications.The objective of the present work was to evaluatewhether the addition of NBC improves baking quality of wheat flours, making achange in the viscoelastic behavior of the mass, also studying its ability toprevent aging (" staling ") during storage of breads.MATERIALSAND METHODSBNC wasincorporated in different amounts into a typical formulation of French bread;the breads were baked, specific volume, yield and textural properties (TPA,Instron Universal Testing Machine 5982) were measured initially and duringstorage at 20°C,in order to establish whether the parameters were influenced by the added NBC.  RESULTSAND DISCUSSIONThe BNChas a higher quantity of OH at the surface and retains humidity and increasesspecific volume of bread.Under thetested conditions, the addition of BNC previously treated 4 minutes in ablender resulted beneficial in the characteristics of the baked bread. A lessfirm but more cohesive crumb than the control formulation was observed. Thiseffect was not observed when BNC was subjected to a more agressive shear mixingtreatment before incorporating to the dough, due to the destroy of 3D network.