Chapter One - Introduction to characterization of nanoencapsulated food ingredients

Abstract

Some of the major contributions of nanoencapsulation to the food industry are the enrichment/fortification of food products by incorporating health-promoting nutraceuticals, nutrients, and bioactive agents, resulting in the enhancement of properties such as stability, longer shelf life for storage, better tracking of contaminants, improvement of taste, flavor, color, and texture, and finally, nutraceutical delivery into our bodies. Nanoemulsions, nanogels, nanoliposomes, nanofibers, nanosponges, nanotubes, and biopolymeric nanocarriers are some nanovehicles fabricated from edible biopolymers/lipids and designed for encapsulation of food bioactives. Analysis of bioactive-loaded nanocarriers and encapsulated food ingredients provides information for the evaluation of successful performance of the encapsulation process Encapsulation efficiency and stability of released bioactives from nanocarriers should be well emphasized to improve safe application opportunities of those nanomaterials. Physical and chemical properties including surface charge and area, polarity, size, shape, morphology, solubility, molecular weight, composition, structure, color, thermal stability, and aggregation behavior are significant factors defining characteristic of produced nanostructures. Different analytical tools have been developed to determine the efficiency of nanoencapsulation processes, along with the mentioned parameters. These techniques are reviewed briefly in this chapter and more comprehensive details will be provided in the following chapters of the book.