Encapsulation technologies for the delivery of spice extractives: An overview

Abstract

Nowadays consumers are very much conscious about their health and are looking for natural products with nutritional benefits. Most natural products like spice extractives contain functional ingredients which may degrade rapidly due to the presence of external atmospheric factors like oxygen, moisture, heat, light etc. It is complicated to apply them directly to different applications. To overcome such issues, several recent technologies like encapsulation have been developed. Encapsulation is a promising method extensively employed for safeguarding core materials from factors like light, heat, and oxygen. This advanced technology enhances stability, boosts bioavailability, masks bitter taste, facilitates controlled release, preserves functional characteristics, and finally improves handling practices. Selecting the appropriate microencapsulation technology and the suitable carriers is determined by the product's specific application and the associated processing conditions. This review paper highlights the most important encapsulation techniques and a few of their implementations in the encapsulation of spice extractives.