Burkina Faso: Innovative Opportunities of Natural Hydrocolloids in Food and Personal Care
Burkina Faso, located in West Africa, has abundant agricultural resources, especially grains, cotton, and tropical fruits and vegetables, providing a solid foundation for the food processing industry. With increasing local consumer attention to healthy, natural, and low-sugar products, natural hydrocolloids such as pectin, citrus fiber, carrageenan, and konjac gum are gradually playing an important role in the dairy, beverage, snack, bakery, and personal care industries.
In dairy and beverage applications, pectin is widely used in yogurt, probiotic drinks, functional dairy beverages, and fruit beverages. High-ester pectin maintains stability in acidic systems, ensuring uniform texture and smooth mouthfeel while preventing sedimentation of grains or fruit pieces. Citrus fiber improves viscosity and mouthfeel in low-sugar, high-fiber beverages, enhancing fullness and dietary fiber content. Carrageenan forms stable gel structures in custards, puddings, jelly, and ice cream, improving textural fineness. Konjac gum, with its transparent and elastic gel properties, provides superior texture and health benefits in low-calorie desserts, meal replacements, and functional jelly products.
In snacks and bakery, citrus fiber enhances dough hydration, gas retention, and extensibility, keeping cakes, bread, biscuits, and local specialty pastries soft and moist while partially replacing fats to reduce calories. Pectin stabilizes jams, fillings, and confectionery products, preventing water separation and maintaining gloss and taste. Carrageenan and konjac gum are widely used in puddings, mousses, jelly, and candies, enhancing gel strength and elasticity, providing multi-layered texture experiences in Burkina Faso’s snacks and baked goods.
In sauces and condiments, pectin and citrus fiber improve viscosity and stability, preventing layering; carrageenan ensures gel strength and sliceability; konjac gum enhances texture in low-sugar, low-fat, or plant-based sauces. Natural hydrocolloids make jams, sauces, and syrups easier to process and store, while improving health benefits.
In personal care, konjac gum and citrus fiber are applied in lotions, cleansers, masks, and hair care products. Konjac gum provides smooth texture and moisturizing effects, while citrus fiber, rich in plant polysaccharides and flavonoids, offers gentle exfoliation and adsorption, meeting West African consumers’ preference for natural, healthy, plant-based formulations.
Overall, pectin, citrus fiber, carrageenan, and konjac gum provide broad application potential across Burkina Faso’s dairy, beverage, snack, bakery, sauce, and personal care industries, enhancing texture, mouthfeel, and health value, and supporting innovation. Lemon Biotech, as a comprehensive provider of natural hydrocolloid solutions, offers formulation design, process optimization, and technical support, assisting companies in achieving health-focused innovation and differentiation in dairy, snacks, and personal care products.
Citrus pectin is a natural polysaccharide extracted from premium citrus peel. It provides essential gelling, thickening, stabilization, suspension, and texture-enhancing functions. With its fine, clear gel structure, excellent acid stability, and strong process adaptability, pectin is widely used as a key structural ingredient in beverages, dairy, gummies, jams, bakery fillings, meat products, and plant-based formulations.
Our citrus pectin meets FSSC 22000, Kosher, Halal, and FDA standards, and is free from gluten and major allergens—making it an ideal choice for clean, natural, and high-performance formulation needs.
Our citrus fiber products comply with FSSC 22000, Kosher, Halal, and FDA international certification standards. They are non-GMO, gluten-free, lactose-free, and free of common allergens, making them the ideal ingredient choice that combines functionality, clean label compatibility, and natural origin.
Our carrageenan product series is certified by FSSC22000, ISO9001, Halal, Kosher, among other international standards, ensuring batch consistency and global regulatory compliance for customers across various markets.
Konjac gum has excellent water-binding and swelling capacity, forming highly elastic gels with multiple functions including water retention, oil control, elasticity enhancement, film forming, emulsification, and suspension.