Vegetable proteins proved to be good emulsifiers for food emulsions with dietetic advantages. The use of these emulsions as carriers for healthy ingredients, such as colourings, with antioxidant and other beneficial properties, is an interesting subject. In this work, the capacity of the biomass of the microalga Chlorella vulgaris (which has been widely used as a food supplement) as a fat mimetic, and its emulsifier ability, was evaluated. Pea protein emulsions with C. vulgaris addition (both green and orange - carotenogenic) were prepared at different protein and oil contents. The rheological properties of the respective food emulsions were measured in terms of the viscoelastic properties and steady state flow behaviour and texture properties. It was observed that the two microalgal forms evidenced a fat mimetic capacity in these emulsions, the performance of the green stage of this C. vulgaris organism was significantly (p < 0.05) better than the orange stage.

Reducing the fat content in emulsions can give additional nutritional health benefits. Hence, developing low-fat oil-in-water emulsions, fortified with healthy microalgae providing advantageous properties, is an interesting topic. In this study, the addition of Arthrospira platensis (Spirulina), Chlorella vulgaris (Chlorella), and Dunaliella salina (Dunaliella) microalgae biomass on the physicochemical properties of low-fat oil-in-water emulsion formulations were evaluated. The rheological properties of food emulsions were measured in terms of the viscoelastic, flow behaviour, and textural properties, with all properties studied during 60 days. pH values of all the emulsions ranged between 3.0 and 3.7 and agreed to the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Moreover, their rheological behaviour may be classified as weak gel-like, a distinguishing characteristic of low-fat emulsion products. Substantial differences in rheological properties were observed between the fortified microalgae emulsions over the storage time (60 days). However, incorporating Spirulina or Dunaliella gave emulsions with stable texture, viscoelastic, and rheological properties. The prepared emulsions displayed good colour stability for Chlorella and Dunaliella. Overall, the fortified microalgae low-fat emulsions are expected to provide a blueprint for the design of low-fat mayonnaise-like food emulsions.