Pectin-A By Product Of Waste Material

Citrus is the second largest fruit being cultivated in Pakistan. A huge amount of citrus peel is going as waste. Keeping in view the huge amount of citrus production in Pakistan it is considered imperative to look into the possibilities of solacing albedo portion of grapefruit peel as a source of pectin. Fruit pectin has also a number of applications in food industry as well as in pharmaceutical preparation. The uses of pectin in various food products have been considered an important development and enhance its demands in the market. In food products, the uses of pectin increases viscosity to form gels, prevent synersis, maintains suspension equilibrium of the product and improves the texture of the final products.In the nut shell the present research project was a successful attempt to extract pectin from grapefruit peel. The quality of the pectin that can be extracted was optimized. The optimization resulted in two fold increase in the extraction rate that was limelight of the present project. The extracted pectin owing to its high methoxyl content can be used as stabilizer/thickening agent in various foods.