- To fulfill dietary needs
- As a texturant
The citrus fibers from Fiberstar sold under the trade name Citri-Fi® are isolated bland fibers which come from citrus fruits like orange and lime. Citrus fiber is made from juice cells, peels, rag or segment membranes, and cores from oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruits, and tangerine. Citrus fiber contains carbohydrates, fiber (total dietary, soluble, and insoluble), protein, and ash. The fibers are polymers of simple sugars and possess very high-water binding capacity. Owing to this property, Citri-Fi® is used as a texturant i.e. to provide firmness and body to the products. Such fibers are commonly used in meat applications like burger patties, sausages, etc. but recently, they are also showing promising results in other food sectors including dairy.
Apart from giving a nice body and texture to the products, Citri-Fi® is a clean label and all-natural additive. The market today is booming with innovation, with new products by various big manufacturers filling up shelf space at a rapid pace. But, with new productcome new ingredients, new additives and new E-Numbers. According to the survey conducted by The British Food Journal, more than 43% of consumers do not know what an E-Number indicates while another 47% were able to identify them incorrectly. In the same survey, it was observed that nearly 58% of consumers preferred a product with no E-Number and 48% of them were willing to pay a premium price for the same. The E-Numbers have been a big barrier between a manufacturer and a consumer because this causes a communication gap between the two. Not only are the E-Numbers confusing, but sometimes they could also be very misleading. In order to avoid any confusion, it is always a better idea to avoid mentioning any E-Number on the label. The best way to achieve this is to use all-natural additives like Citri-Fi®.
