Egg yolk granules offer potential as low-cholesterol emulsifying agent

A study published in the Journal of Food Science explores the utilization of low-fat egg yolk granules as a low-cholesterol alternative to whole egg yolk, which is an essential ingredient for many food products due to its emulsification properties.

In this study, granules with low cholesterol content were separated from egg yolk using easily scalable centrifugal conditions. The egg yolk granules isolated within 0.17 M NaCl solution achieved a 22.5% yield that was similar to the results achieved using higher centrifugation speeds and longer time. The yield of egg yolk granules increased from 25% to 32% when the yolk:water ratio was changed from 1:1 to 1:2. The researchers prepared mayonnaise to evaluate the emulsifying capacity of the egg yolk granules.

The researchers found that egg yolk granules exhibited similar emulsifying activity as that of whole egg yolk, but a better emulsion stabilizing property that is evidenced by the higher viscosity of mayonnaise prepared with the granules. In addition, the viscosities of mayonnaise prepared by spray dried yolk and granules were slightly higher than the liquid counterpart, showing a further improvement by spray drying on the emulsion stabilizing properties. The mechanical spectra of mayonnaise samples by frequency sweep also suggested that granules favored the formation of stronger 3-dimensional arrangements of oil droplets and therefore a more stable emulsion.

The researchers concluded that egg yolk granules isolated within 0.17 M NaCl solution “present best emulsifying properties and can be applied as whole yolk replacer in food emulsions.”

Abstract