MICRO-ENCAPSULATION IN FOOD

Micro-encapsulation is a process in which tiny particles or droplets/gases are surrounded by a coating of thin polymers to give small capsules many useful properties. In a relatively simplistic form, a microcapsule is a small sphere with a uniform wall around it. The material inside the microcapsule is referred to as the core, internal phase, or fill, whereas the wall is sometimes called a shell, coating, or membrane. Most microcapsules have diameters between a few micrometers and a few millimeters.

                  

Micro-capsulation contents are protected from environmental conditions such as light, air and moisture. Micro-encapsulation can suppress the volatility, flavor, odor and reactivity of food ingredients. Although every class of food ingredient has been encapsulated, flavors are the most common. The technique of micro-encapsulation depend on the physical and chemical properties of the material to be encapsulated

               

Human health, nutritional status and well-being can be enhanced through consumption of foods containing specifically desired nutrients and bioactive agents. Disease preventing and health promoting properties of different nutrients and bio-agents have been demonstrated.  Among these agents are specific poly-unsaturated lipids, antioxidants,

phytochemicals, vitamins, peptides, etc. Enriching foods with such agents can significantly enhance the nutritional and health-promoting properties of foods and beverages. In other situations, quality of food products is dependent on the incorporation and delivery of flavor, aroma, color, and other sensitive ingredients.

However, the extreme sensitivity of many of these desired compounds leads to their deterioration, at conditions prevailing during food processing and storage, and thus significantly compromises our capability to incorporate them into foods. Preparing high quality nutritious food is therefore critically dependent of availability of effective delivery systems. Such systems should preserve the specific nutritional, biological, chemical and functional properties of the sensitive constituent, pending consumption, and should effectively release the delivered compounds, in a desired mode, following ingestion. Current nutrients and ingredients delivery technologies fall short of allowing meeting these goals successfully and a need to develop new, highly functional delivery systems exists. The most promising technology that can allow overcoming the stated difficulties is micro-encapsulation. Micro-encapsulation involves the entrapment and tailored controlled delivery of biologically active and/or sensitive components. Although the concept has been used successfully, for several decades, in drug delivery applications, its utilization in food applications is in its infancy and is compromised by the very limited array of functional GRAS encapsulating agents and technologies. A critical need to investigate and develop new and advanced technologies and devices for nutrients delivery through foods thus exists.  

MANJU CHHETRI

B.Tech(Food,3^rd year)

5^TH ISSUE OF PAARTH