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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Bioproducts Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #421109
Research Project: Zero Waste Agricultural Processing

Location: Bioproducts Research

Title: Enhancing the stability of spray-dried vitamin A acetate: The role of synergistic wall materials in microencapsulation

Author
item LU, JIAXIN - Jiangnan University
item GE, YI - Jiangnan University
item ZHU, XIAOYONG - Jiangsu University
item MA, YUN - Jiangnan University
item Chiou, Bor Sen
item LIU, FEI - Jiangnan University

Submitted to: Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/18/2025
Publication Date: 3/31/2025
Citation: Lu, J., Ge, Y., Zhu, X., Ma, Y., Chiou, B., Liu, F. 2025. Enhancing the stability of spray-dried vitamin A acetate: The role of synergistic wall materials in microencapsulation. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. 105(10):5366-5376. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.14257.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.14257

Interpretive Summary: Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that is sensitive to light, heat, and oxygen. Consequently, it can lose its functionality during food processing. One way to improve vitamin A's stability during processing is through encapsulation by spray drying. This study examined the effects of using modified starch, gum arabic, gelatin, and sugar as encapsulation materials to protect vitamin A. The modified starch sample had the highest encapsulation efficiency of vitamin A. However, the sample containing gum arabic and gelatin retained almost all of the vitamin A after 35 days of storage at high temperatures. This was due to the gum arabic/gelatin sample forming spheres with smooth surfaces and few pores during spray drying. These results indicated that the combination of gum arabic and gelatin can be used to effectively protect vitamin A for potential use in food applications.

Technical Abstract: Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that is susceptible to environmental factors, which can result in reduced activity. Encapsulation via emulsion spray drying is a commonly utilized method to enhance the stability of active substances. It boasts a wide range of applications and capability for automated and continuous production. The wall material of microcapsules represents one of the pivotal factors influencing the properties of microcapsules, potentially mitigating the degradation of active substances during storage. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of vitamin A acetate (VAA) emulsions and microcapsules formulated with different encapsulating agents (gum acacia (GA), gelatin (GE), white sugar (WS), and octenyl succinic acid modified starch (OSA)) prepared by spray drying. Properties of the microcapsules were examined, including encapsulation efficiency, moisture content, water activity, Carr's index, cohesiveness, flowability, porosity, particle size, thermal behavior, crystallinity, and microstructure. The results indicated that the synergistic effects of GA+GEL/WS can enhance the compactness of microcapsules, thereby improving the storage stability of VAA microcapsules. This potentially broadens the application of VAA in food systems.