ISBN:  Unavailable

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Page count: 171

Galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) are non-digestible food ingredients that have been shown to increase populations of health-promoting species of gut bacteria. A variety of GOS products can be produced, resulting in versatile ingredients with different GOS purity levels. Application of these GOS products in the U.S is currently limited, and few studies have investigated the effect of the addition of GOS on physiochemical properties of foods. The overall hypothesis of this study was that GOS purity will affect water sorption and thermal properties, causing differences in critical processing and storage conditions and appropriate food applications. The first objective of this study was to investigate the effect of purity of GOS mixtures on water sorption and thermal behavior of the products. A secondary objective was to develop glassy confections (hard-candies) using GOS and study the resulting physiochemical and sensory properties.