Incidental food nanoparticles from freshwater clam soup stabilize Pickering emulsions

Daily foods contain abundant amounts of nanoparticles produced by the self-assembly of amphiphilic food components during processing. These nanoparticles are referred to as incidental food nanoparticles (iFNPs) because they are formed incidentally rather than through a specific nanoparticle fabrication method. Among them, freshwater clam soup nanoparticles (FCNPs) have potential as nanocarriers, but their capacity as stabilizers for pickering emulsions (PEs) has not yet been explored. This study investigated the feasibility of FCNPs as stabilizers for food-grade PEs. FCNPs were characterized and showed a contact angle of 54.64 ± 1.06°, indicating their suitability for stabilizing O/W PEs. FCNPs stabilized medium-chain triglycerides at different concentrations (1%-5%) and oil fractions (φ = 20%-80%) to form PEs or high internal phase PEs with excellent stability. These PEs were dominated by elastic gel-like and typical shear-thinning behavior. Increasing either the FCNPs concentration or the oil fraction was resulted in emulsions with smaller droplets and higher gel strength. These FCNPs-stabilized PEs were stable at 4 °C for 90 days and across broad ionic strength (0-600 mM) and pH (3-11) ranges, as well as under pasteurization treatments. These findings provide new insight into the development of food-grade PEs by utilizing iFNPs, widely present in daily foods, as a novel class of safe, effective, and ‘clean-label’ stabilizers.