Self-assembled proteins for food applications: A review

The development of advanced food materials necessarily involves the building of well-known and oriented micro- and nanoarchitectures, which are obtained through the self-assembly of food grade (edible) polymers. Keeping this in view, proteins have proven to be more versatile building blocks than carbohydrate polymers for the manufacture of multifaceted and advanced systems for food applications. Proteins from different sources (animal, vegetal and microbiological) can be self-assembled in several forms (films, hydrogels, micelles/vesicles and particles) to be targeted and tuned for various food applications such as biosensors, coatings, emulsions, controlled and sustained release of active food additives, development of functional foods, etc. Proteins can be self-assembled with each other, with carbohydrates or other proteins, and includes the use of enzymes and essential oils have achieved this physicochemical phenomenon that occurs between macromolecules via chemical interactions, mainly by hydrogen, hydrophilic and ionic bonding, which are determined by the conditions of ionic strength, mechanical force, pH, salt concentration and type, temperature, among others. This review aims to provide a comprehensive and concise analysis of the state of the art of self-assembled proteins for food applications, which have had a significant boom over the past five years in terms of the development of nanotechnology within the food industry.