Emulsifiers: Mending the Differences in Our Foods

Eggs Benedict is a brunch staple, and what makes or breaks the plate is—you guessed it—the Hollandaise sauce. This personal favorite is a combination of egg yolk, butter, water, and lemon juice or vinegar, making for the ultimate emulsion. What’s an emulsion, you may ask? It’s a common component of many of the foods we eat, and while not everyone is a food scientist, there are a few interesting things you might be curious to know about emulsifiers in our food. What are emulsifiers? Emulsifiers are found in many food products we buy at the grocery store. Beverages, milk, ice cream, and dressings often feature emulsifiers as additives to keep the mixture of ingredients stable. What exactly do we mean by that? Well, have you ever tried mixing together oil and vinegar for a simple salad dressing? For a short time, the two may appear homogenously mixed, but after a few minutes they are completely separated. Emulsifiers keep two components that normally do not mix well together from separating. Because oil and vinegar are so chemically different, they can often be challenging to mix. As food scientists, if we want to overcome this challenge, we can add an emulsifier. Said in a different way? If water and oil were a fighting couple, an emulsifier would be the therapist that mends their relationship. Specifically, food scientists and producers use continuous stirring and sometimes heat to add emulsifiers to two previously unmixable components—helping to keep them together over the course of the final product’s lifetime. What foods contain emulsifiers? Emulsifiers can either be naturally present or added as additional ingredients. In the case of the highly stable emulsion of mayonnaise, an egg yolk protein called lecithin aids in stabilizing the oil, egg, and lemon juice mixture that is the foundation of mayonnaise. Lecithin […]

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What Are Emulsifiers, and What Do They Do in Our Food?

If you have seen any 1970s-themed movie, or better yet grew up in the ’70s, you’ve seen them before: colorful, mesmerizing, some might even say soothing. We’re talking about lava lamps. Within these luminaries, the combinations of water and heated wax simply would not mix no matter how many times the psychedelic bubbles of wax floated to the top of the lamp and back down again. The reason? Oil and water do not naturally mix on their own. But what if something could help mix these traditionally repelling agents? Luckily, when it comes to food, that something exists, and our taste buds are forever thankful. Enter emulsifiers! What are emulsifiers? Emulsifiers are Food and Drug Administration–approved food additives that help products containing immiscible food ingredients, like oil and water, to combine. You can find emulsifiers in plenty of prepackaged and processed foods, including mayonnaise, margarine, meats, ice cream, salad dressings, chocolate, peanut butter and other nut butters, shelf-stable frostings, cookies, crackers, creamy sauces, breads, baked products and ice cream. Emulsifiers can be man-made or naturally occurring. Many emulsifiers used today are of a naturally derived variety called hydrocolloids. Hydrocolloids serve as thickening agents and support the structure, texture, flavor, and shelf life of various food products, and they are often referred to simply as gums because of the food texture and consistency they create. Hydrocolloids include emulsifiers made from plants, animals and aquatic sources. Plant-based hydrocolloids include locust bean gum, carrageenan, pectin, and starch, while animal-sourced varieties including chitosan made from crustacean shells. (Talk about reducing waste!) Hydrocolloids, like xanthan gum, can also come from microbial sources, and even food products themselves—mustard, oil, salt, egg yolk and vinegar—can serve as emulsifiers. Without emulsifiers like hydrocolloids, you could look forward to scooping into a layer of fat before getting to the […]

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Snacking Production Series: Protein Bars

IFIC’s 2022 Food and Health Survey showed that people really enjoy snacking—and that enjoyment is not likely to change. Specifically, last year’s survey showed that nearly three in four respondents (73%) reported snacking at least once a day. In comparison with our 2021 survey, snacking frequency has increased substantially—in 2021, 58% of respondents reported snacking at least once a day or more. One popular snack that offers both nutritional complexity and a variety of flavor is the protein bar. Protein bars have grown exponentially in flavor, texture, and ingredient options in the past decade, and many people (and about 30% of our 2022 survey respondents) reach for some form of nutrition bar as their go-to snack daily. But while many of us enjoy protein bars, how much do we actually know about their ingredients? Read on for more insights about how to enjoy a protein bar that’s right for you. First Things First: Why Protein? Dietary protein plays a vital role in every cell of our bodies: Proteins provide energy, catalyze metabolic reactions, and provide structure to our tissues and organs. Protein is also an essential nutrient for maintaining muscle strength, bone health, and blood sugar control. In addition, protein-rich foods contain many of the vitamins and minerals needed to support the body’s defenses and promote quicker healing. The composition of amino acids in the protein content of foods is especially important to consider, since our bodies need amino acids to make vital proteins for different body functions. Animal-based protein (such as whey) is considered to be “complete,” since it contains all the essential amino acids, which our bodies cannot make on their own. In comparison, most plant-based proteins are lacking in one or more essential amino acids (soy-based protein is an exception to this rule). Many people look to protein […]

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Nutrition 101 Video Series: Fundamentals of Fats

This is the first installment of a video series highlighting the basics of several nutrition topics in partnership with Osmosis, an organization that focuses on health science education. You can view a playlist of our video collaborations with Osmosis here. Fats are an essential part of a healthy diet—they’re involved in everything from providing us with a major source of energy, to helping us absorb vitamins, to refereeing communication between the cells in our bodies. As if these health benefits weren’t enough, fats also contribute to our enjoyment of food by adding taste and texture—like the smoothness of guacamole, or the flakiness of a croissant. The Basics of Dietary Fats: Chemical Structure and Naming Dietary fats usually have a three-carbon backbone—called glycerol—attached to one or more fatty acid chains, which are basically strings of carbon and hydrogen atoms. If there are three fatty acid chains, the structure is called a triglyceride. If there are only one or two fatty acid chains, the structure is called a monoglyceride or a diglyceride, respectively. There are various types of fatty acid chains, and one way to categorize them is by their length. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) have up to six carbon atoms. They can be found in dairy products and are also produced by our gut microbiome. Medium-chain fatty acids, like some of the fats found in coconut oil, have seven to 12 carbons. And long-chain fatty acids, like oleic acid in olive oil, have 13 or more carbon atoms in their fatty acid chains. Fatty acid chains are also categorized by whether they have single or double bonds connecting their carbon atoms. When a fatty acid has only single bonds, it’s called a saturated fatty acid because it has as many hydrogen atoms as possible—that is, it’s saturated with them! Triglycerides with […]

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What’s the Dish on the DASH Diet?

Following diets or eating patterns is pretty common in the United States, with one in seven Americans reporting that they stick to a specific eating pattern or diet.  While fad diets and trends rotate in and out over time, there are a few tried-and-true eating styles (hey, there Mediterranean diet!) that stand the test of time. A recent panel of experts — including nutritionists, healthcare professionals and scientists who focused on chronic diseases, human behavior and weight loss — reviewed 40 diets. The panel rated each diet based on a variety of categories, including short- and long-term weight loss, ease of compliance, safety and nutrition. The panel concluded that the number one best overall diet was actually two diets: the Mediterranean diet and DASH diet. Since most of us have heard of the Mediterranean diet and we’ve already covered the basics of a Mediterranean eating style, let’s dish about the DASH diet. DASH 101 The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating style was developed in the 1990s in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health and five media research centers in the United States to research the role of dietary eating styles on blood pressure. Findings from these studies revealed that dietary eating styles impact blood pressure in at-risk populations such as hypertensive adults. Specifically, the DASH diet significantly lowered blood pressures compared to control diets, after two weeks of starting the diet and sustaining for six more weeks. The DASH eating style focuses on the notable nutrients and foods that have been touted for decades including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans, nuts, and vegetable oils. In addition, this eating style recommends limiting added sugars and sodium, as well as foods that are high in saturated fat such as fatty proteins, full-fat […]

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Protein

What is protein? What are protein food sources? What is the recommended protein amount? In the IFIC Protein Toolkit, you’ll find insights, continuing education, resources and more to support your protein exploration and communication. 

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Privacy Policy

Last Updated On 25-Jun-2025Effective Date 25-Jun-2025 This Privacy Policy describes the policies of International Food Information Council, 900 19th St NW, Washington, D.C. 20006, United States of America (the), email: [email protected], phone: n/a on the collection, use and disclosure of your information that we collect when you use our website ( https://ific.org ). (the “Service”). By accessing or using the Service, you are consenting to the collection, use and disclosure of your information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you do not consent to the same, please do not access or use the Service. We may modify this Privacy Policy at any time without any prior notice to you and will post the revised Privacy Policy on the Service. The revised Policy will be effective 180 days from when the revised Policy is posted in the Service and your continued access or use of the Service after such time will constitute your acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy. We therefore recommend that you periodically review this page. Information We Collect: We will collect and process the following personal information about you: How We Use Your Information: We will use the information that we collect about you for the following purposes: If we want to use your information for any other purpose, we will ask you for consent and will use your information only on receiving your consent and then, only for the purpose(s) for which grant consent unless we are required to do otherwise by law. How We Share Your Information:We will not transfer your personal information to any third party without seeking your consent, except in limited circumstances as described below: We require such third party’s to use the personal information we transfer to them only for the purpose for which it was transferred and not to retain […]

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Our Mission

Our vision is a global environment where science informs food decisions. Our mission is to effectively communicate science-based information about food safety, nutrition and sustainable food systems, serving the public good.  Founded in 1985, the International Food Information Council (IFIC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. For more than forty years, IFIC has been dedicated to supporting informed food and beverage decisions, collaboration, and evidence-based communication. IFIC is governed by a Board of Trustees, the majority of whom are from public academic institutions, along with an Assembly that includes government liaisons. IFIC is supported primarily through grants and contributions from the broad-based food, beverage, and agricultural industry. IFIC does not lobby or represent any product, company, or industry.

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