Technologies to deliver more nutritional and healthier foods

Adding bioactive food components or nutraceuticals to foods in order to improve nutritional value while maintaining taste and aroma remains a challenge. Nutraceuticals often display limited stability or are incompatible with the nutrient and non-nutrient components of foods and their molecular relationships.

Existing approaches in the food industry have been used to overcome these barriers, but not on foods that are naturally low in moisture or are produced from higher-moisture foods through drying or dehydration processes. These include cereals and grains, dried protein products, spices and dried herbs, nuts, sweets, and dried fruits and vegetables. The EU-funded EMULSIFOOD (Emulsion design to improve nutritional and organoleptic quality of cereal based food systems) project is investigating strategies and systems to help achieve this.

During the first two years of the three-year project, encapsulation techniques for food applications were examined. Specifically, three delivery systems based on biopolymers and emulsions were studied. The most widely used biopolymers to encapsulate nutraceuticals in food applications are polysaccharides, proteins and lipids. The delivery systems are based on drying since encapsulation usually takes place in liquid form. Emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that cannot usually be mixed or blended.

The proposed methods entrap food ingredients and compounds, thus improving delivery of nutraceuticals in foods. This helps conceal bad taste or smell, stabilises food ingredients and increases their bioavailability. It also provides improved stability in final products and during processing.

Each delivery system's feasibility will be examined in the final year of the project. By identifying the most optimal approaches, EMULSIFOOD will pave the way for healthier and better quality food products without compromising properties such as taste and smell.