Chapter 19 - Use of Milk Proteins for Encapsulation of Food Ingredients

Abstract

Dairy proteins are highly valued as encapsulating materials. They have many inherent functional properties, including their ability to stabilize emulsions and form gel matrices, which enable them to function as effective encapsulants. They may be used to encapsulate a wide range of hydrophilic and hydrophobic food ingredients, as well as probiotic microorganisms. Milk proteins may be used alone or in combination with other food ingredients such as carbohydrates, gums, surfactants, and lipids for formulating encapsulated food ingredients and food bioactives. This chapter reviews the use of milk proteins in the formulation and processing of encapsulated food ingredients. It includes examples of encapsulated food ingredients formulated with milk proteins as encapsulating materials, alone or in combination with other food materials, from the scientific and patent literature. It highlights the versatility of milk proteins for encapsulation of food ingredients.