Physical Characteristics of Egg Yolk Granules and Effect on Their Functionality

Abstract

Eggs are among the most nutritious foods in the world, a versatile ingredient in many food applications due to their functional attributes such as foaming, emulsifying, and coloring agents. Many studies have been reported on egg yolk fractionation and characterization in the last decade because of its nutritional and health benefits, especially egg yolk granules. This has led to the development of new food products and packaging materials. However, the influence of their physical characteristics during processing significantly impacts the functionality of yolk granules. In this overview, the egg yolk, the granule fraction’s separation, fractionation, components, and molecular protein structure are first presented. Secondly, recent studies on egg yolk granules published over the past decade are discussed. Furthermore, the application of the granules in different industries and current specific scientific challenges are discussed. Finally, it simplifies the changes in the physical characteristics of the granules during different treatment methods and the impact on the functionalities of the resulting products in the food (emulsifiers, edible films), pharmaceutical, and health (encapsulation systems and biosensors) sectors.

Development of a membrane-disruption assay using phospholipid vesicles as a proxy for the detection of cellular membrane degradation

“…In this study, we describe the development of a low assay volume high-density well plate (i.e., 384-wells) based vesicle degradation (VD) assay that uses fluorescently dyed phospholipid vesicles to study membrane degradation of both crude snake venoms and fractionated venom toxins. The size of the vesicles created by resuspending the egg yolk was not formally characterised and probably contains multiple forms of phospholipid vesicles, including micelles and liposomes ( Oladimeji and Gebhardt, 2023 ; Abeyrathne et al, 2022 ; Strixner et al, 2014 ; Dennis et al, 2011 ). By fluorescently staining these vesicles, we were able to quantify the membrane degrading activity in terms of a decrease in fluorescence signal, which was done in a high-throughput manner on a fluorescence plate reader.…”

Studies on Food Physical Characterization

“…Egg Yolk Granule Functionality: Oladimeji et al [2] investigate the physical characteristics of egg yolk granules and their functional attributes. Their study underscores the significance of understanding granule properties in enhancing food product development and packaging strategies.…”