Gum Arabic, a natural polysaccharide derived from exudates of Acacia senegal and Acacia seyal trees, is a commonly used food hydrocolloid. The highlight of this study was to review the utilization of gum Arabic for industries and human health. Gum Arabic has a unique combination of excellent emulsifying properties and low solution viscosity. These properties make gum Arabic very useful in several industries but especially in the food industry where it is used as a flavor and stabilizer of citrus oil emulsion concentrates in soft drinks.

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Burkholderia sp., a soil bacterium, is a poly-hydroxy-butyrate (PHB) producer. A study reported that sodium hypochlorite solution (NaOCl) is very effective and immediate to lysis the cell wall of bacteria. However, no data available on the effect of NaOCl concentration on extraction of PHB produced from Burkholderia sp. B37. We therefore aimed to evaluate the effect of NaOCl concentrations (2.5, 5, and 12.5 % v/v) on the extractability of produced PHB from Burkholderia sp. B37. The PHB production was carried out in the Ramsay’s minimal medium. The PHB extracted were purified and identified by Gas-Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) then further evaluated for its physicochemical characteristics including surface morphology, functional group properties by Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy and thermal characteristic. The results showed that NaOCl facilitates the extraction of produced PHB by Burkholderia sp. B37. The concentration of NaOCl influenced on the extractability of PHB and the surface morphology of purified PHB obviously displayed cleaner surface area when 12.5 % v/v of NaOCl was applied. The FTIR and thermal analysis showed no change detected on the functional group properties and full degradation of purified PHB. However, more works are needed to optimize the yield of PHB recovered.