Brea gum as wall material in the microencapsulation of corn oil by spray drying: Effect of inulin addition

CASTEL, VIRGINIA; RUBIOLO, AMELIA C.; CARRARA, CARLOS R.

FOOD RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2018 vol. 103 p. 76 - 83

0963-9969

This study aimed to evaluate thepotential of  Brea gum (BG) in the microencapsulationof corn oil in comparison with gum Arabic (GA) and evaluate the effect ofadding inulin at the matrix formulation. Different concentration of BG andinulin were used to emulsify pure corn oil using a homogenizer followed by anultrasonic treatment. Then, emulsions were spray dried in laboratory scaleequipment to obtain the microcapsules. Overall, powders presented sphericalshape with surface concavities, no apparent cracks and high polydispersity. However,some powders containing inulin showed particles that seem to have fused togetherreflecting a coating effect of inulin. Moisture content of BG powders were low butincreased with inulin addition, while water activities (˂ 0.4) were notaffected by inulin. The color analysis showed that BG powders presented lowerluminosity and higher red and yellow parameters than GA powder, and addinginulin decreased the lightness, redness and yellowness resulting in powderswith more pale color. Encapsulation efficiency increased with BG concentration,reaching 76.12% with 20% of BG. Further efficiency improvement was achieved inpresence of inulin, reaching the highest value (91.72)with 20% BG/ 20% inulin formulation, which was higher than the efficiencyachieved with GA (88.66%). It was concluded that the combination of BGand inulin could be usedas an alternative wall material for microencapsulation of hydrophobic compoundsin replacement of GA.