Encapsulation of bioactives for value-added food

Abstract

The latest trends in contemporary industrial production of foods involve the inclusion of bioactive compounds with potential health benefits, such as vitamins, probiotics, minerals, polyphenols, omega-3-fatty acids, and phytosterols into the foodstuff. Most of them are sensitive to surrounding conditions and influences that might cause the loss of functionality or degradation of an ingredient before it has time to act. Encapsulation is widely used for the protection and preservation of the stability of an active compound during processing, storage, and consumption. It provides a physical barrier between active compounds and the environment. There is a multitude of possible benefits of encapsulated bioactives in the food industry. Encapsulation has to provide an adequate concentration and uniform dispersion of actives. The interest for encapsulated active compounds relies also on the possibility to overcome solubility incompatibilities between ingredients, e.g., active compounds and the food matrices. Another goal of employing encapsulation is to modify the physical characteristics of the original material in order to allow easier handling, to help the separation of the components of the mixture that would otherwise react with one another. In addition, encapsulation can be applied to prevent reaction with other components in food products such as oxygen or water. Furthermore, encapsulation is used to mask unpleasant feelings during eating, such as bitter taste and astringency of polyphenols. It is also a useful tool to provide delivery of bioactive molecules (e.g., antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, phytosterols) and living cells (e.g., probiotics) at the desired place or within an appropriate time. The paper describes several examples of different encapsulation techniques/carrier materials/bioactive molecules developed in our laboratories for the production of value-added food.