45C-6 |
Coacervation to Deliver Flavors |
D. J. PAETZNICK1, G. A. Reineccius1, and T. L. Peppard2. (1) Dept. of Food Science & Nutrition, Univ. of Minnesota, 1334 Eckles Ave., Saint Paul, MN 55108, (2) Regulatory & Scientific Affairs, Robertet Flavors, Inc., 10 Colonial Dr., Piscataway, NJ 08854-6840 Coacervation is an encapsulation technique used in flavor delivery which offers a unique means of flavor release: physical rupture and/or diffusion. There is little detailed information in the public domain on the formation and use of flavor coacervates other than the patent literature. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to investigate the coacervates that are formed in this process and determine the degree to which a wide assortment of flavor compounds can be included in a coacervate. An evaluation of various formulations and processes for coacervate formation revealed that flavor coacervates can be formed in numerous ways. We have developed bright field and fluorescence microscopic techniques for the evaluation of these capsules. These techniques have proven valuable in the evaluation and understanding of this process. We will demonstrate the utility of these techniques in this paper. For studying the inclusion of various aroma compounds in a coacervate, we used four different coacervate processes with two model flavor systems: a series of esters and a broad range of other volatiles. The esters were all retained in the coacervates above 90% except ethyl acetate. We found that the small and large esters were not efficiently included in the coacervate. The low molecular weight ester was likely lost due to partitioning into the aqueous phase. The larger esters may have been lost due to interactions with the gelatin. The complex flavor system showed variable results depending upon the volatile compound. The average flavor inclusion was about 90%. However, a few volatiles had very low inclusion values. We expect this was due to partitioning (as noted earlier), interactions between flavor compounds, or reactions between flavor molecules and the gelatin matrix. Our work provides techniques that will prove useful to the industry in preparing and evaluating coacervation as a method for flavor encapsulation.
Session 45C, Food Chemistry: Flavor and aroma chemistry
|