Nano- and Microencapsulation for Foods

Today, nano- and microencapsulation are increasingly beingutilized in the pharmaceutical, textile, agricultural and foodindustries. Microencapsulation is a process in which tiny particlesor droplets of a food are surrounded by a coating to give smallcapsules. These capsules can be imagined as tiny uniform spheres,in which the particles at the core are protected from outsideelements by the protective coating. For example, vitamins can beencapsulated to protect them from the deterioration they wouldundergo if they were exposed to oxygen.

This book highlights the principles, applications, toxicity andregulation of nano- and microencapsulated foods.

Section I describes the theories and concepts of nano- andmicroencapsulation for foods adapted from pharmaceutical areas,rationales and new strategies of encapsulation, and protection andcontrolled release of food ingredients.

Section II looks closely at the nano- and microencapsulation offood ingredients, such as vitamins, minerals, phytochemical, lipid,probiotics and flavors. This section provides a variety ofreferences for functional food ingredients with varioustechnologies of nano particles and microencapsulation. This sectionwill be helpful to food processors and will deal with foodingredients for making newly developed functional foodproducts.

Section III covers the application of encapsulated ingredientsto various foods, such as milk and dairy products, beverages,bakery and confectionery products, and related food packagingmaterials.

Section IV touches on other related issues in nano- andmicroencapsulation, such as bioavailability, bioactivity, potentialtoxicity and regulation.