Food Marketing & Technology - India June 2019 | Page 52

Packaging
NANOTECHNOLOGY
FOR FLAVOURS:
A FOOD INDUSTRY
PERSPECTIVE
BY: ANU BHUSANI *
F
lavour is the first thing you
relish in your morning coffee.
So what does flavour constitute
- aroma or taste of the food? The
answer is both. Flavour is a sensory
impression of food that is felt
simultaneously by the tongue as taste
and the nose as the aroma. Humans
can perceive only five tastes (sweet,
sour, bitter, salty and umami), but
can distinguish one trillion different
aromas. Also, aroma contributes to
80 percent of what we perceive as a
taste of food. Hence, the flavour is an
important parameter that maximizes
the quality, acceptability and global
competitiveness of a food product.
However, flavours in foods are greatly
degraded by chemical or physical
reactions during harsh food processing
conditions. Here, nanotechnology
can aid in flavour retention, flavour
enhancement, controlled release of
flavour and masking of off-flavours.
Let us understand in brief how
nanotechnology has a role in the
flavour of foods.
Nanoencapsulation
of Flavours
Nanoencapsulation is the process
of packing a core compound within
a wall matrix at dimensions in
nanoscale (< 1000 nm). Flavours can be
encapsulated using various techniques
to obtain the encapsulated product in
powder, paste or liquid form. Mostly,
flavours are encapsulated using spray
drying; spray chilling; homogenization
and extrusion techniques. The choice
of wall material (e.g. biopolymers,
protein, carbohydrates, and lipids)
depends on the end use of the
encapsulated flavour. For use in bakery
products, powder form of flavour
encapsulated using starch or protein
Food Marketing & Technology
52
June 2019
is preferred; in beverages, liquid
form of flavour emulsified with lipids
is used. Flavours are encapsulated
prior to the crucial processing step
in order to protect the compound
from degradation. However, for use
in frozen products like ice creams,
flavours are directly added to the
product
during
homogenization
or agitation processes which act as
an encapsulation technique. The
emulsion particles produced during
homogenization protect the flavour
compounds during processing and
storage.
Nanoencapsulation
in Controlled Flavour Release
Nanoencapsulation is advantageous
not only to protect the flavour during
processing and storage but also to aid
in controlled release of flavours from