Dispersing hydrophobic natural colourant ?-carotene in shellac particles for enhanced stability and tunable colour.
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ABSTRACT: Colour is one of the most important visual attributes of food and is directly related to the perception of food quality. The interest in natural colourants, especially ?-carotene that not only imparts colour but also has well-documented health benefits, has triggered the research and development of different protocols designed to entrap these hydrophobic natural molecules to improve their stability against oxidation. Here, we report a versatile microfluidic approach that uses single emulsion droplets as templates to prepare microparticles loaded with natural colourants. The solution of ?-carotene and shellac in the solvent is emulsified by microfluidics into droplets. Upon solvent diffusion, ?-carotene and shellac co-precipitates, forming solid microparticles of ?-carotene dispersed in the shellac polymer matrix. We substantially improve the stability of ?-carotene that is protected from oxidation by the polymer matrix and achieve different colour appearances by loading particles with different ?-carotene concentrations. These particles demonstrate great promise for practical use in natural food colouring.
SUBMITTER: Chen D
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5750000 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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