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‘Clean label’ starches Starches are widely used to modify the rheological properties of foods such as sauces and desserts. Changes in the type of starch used or in the process can have significant effects on product properties such as mouthfeel, processing characteristics and product stability. Native starches have limited functionality as they are not tolerant to low pH, high shear or freeze/thaw. Chemical modification of starches overcomes these limitations. With pressure to reduce additives in foods, physically modified starches have been developed that can be declared as 'starch', giving a ‘clean label’, but which might have similar functional properties to chemically modified starches. 
Studies were undertaken to compare the effects of heat processes and other food components on the performance of the different starches. Understanding this is essential for product quality. The characteristics of native, physically modified and chemically modified starches were compared in formulated microwaveable starch-based sauces - a lower pH tomato sauce, a higher fat cheese sauce and a high sugar toffee sauce. This involved use of rapid visco analysis (RVA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Viscosity measurements were also made to see the behaviour under varying shear rates. The work confirmed that the chemically modified starch used was more cross-linked and the native starch less so. The work also yielded data on the properties of different physically modified starches and how they behave in the different sauces. It demonstrates the importance for manufacturers of understanding the different properties of ‘clean label’ starches to replace modified starches and is generating data for providing guidance on this. Contact: Sarah Chapman |