Abstract: Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), one of the most important cellulose derivatives, is widely used in food industry. The aqueous solution of CMC exhibits pseudoplastic behavior. Both the structure parameters (such as molecular weight and degree of substitute, (DS) of CMC), and its concentration have effects on the rheological properties of CMC solutions. It is found that as a stabilizer in acidified milk drinks (AMD), CMC with higher molecular weight, DS or concentration is of much more benefit to the stabilization on AMD while the addition of extreme low concentration of CMC makes AMD unstable due to the aggregation of caseins through bridging.

Key words: CMC, rheological properties, AMD, stability