Pectin Case Study

Pectin is a plant polysaccharide which contains a high proportion of galacturonic acid residues1. Pectin is used by Food industry for its gel-forming abilities in production of jams and jellies, to increase the viscosity of drinks and as stabilizers in acid milk products1. Pectin has also been studied for its anti-cancer properties2. Commercially, pectin is derived from apple pomace and citrus peel. Apart from these, mango wastes3, sugar beet wastes4, sunflower heads5, Roselle calyces6, dragon fruit7, watermelon rind8, cocoa husks9 and papaya wastes10 have been studied for alternate sources of pectin. M.L.Fishman et al11 studied the physical properties of pectin extracted from pomegranate peels, like intrinsic viscosity and molecular weight,

The degree of Esterification in sweet lime pectin was found to be 86.69% and 45.4% at pH of 1.5 and 2 respectively. However, in the case of pomegranate pectin it was 95.36% and 95.54% at pH of 1.5 and 2 respectively. The highest methoxyl content (11.966%) was obtained in pomegranate pectin extracted at pH of 1.5. The maximum equivalent weights from sweet lime and pomegranate peels extracted pectin were 2083.33 and 14285.71 respectively.
The Galacturonic Acid content was low in all but one of the test samples. The highest Galacturonic Acid content of 71.1% was observed in pectin extracted from Pomegranate peels at pH of 1.5 and temperature of 1000C. IPPA20 stated that pectin for food use should contain at-least 65% Galacturonic acid units and hence the above sample can be considered as an alternative source of pectin in food industry. The galacturonic acid content in the sweet lime peels’ pectin from both samples (24-32%) is low in comparison to the findings of Zia-ur-Rehman and Abdul Majeed Salariya21 which might be a result of using lesser pH and higher temperatures of extractions in this