Microencapsulated ingredients

Let CARBOCRAFT be your preferred partner for microencapsulated and coated ingredients! Microencapsulation is a process in which tiny particles or droplets of active ingredients, such as chemical compounds, flavours, colours, vitamins, oils, or even living cells, are surrounded, or enclosed by a protective coating or shell.

This coating can be made from various materials, such as fats, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, waxes, or polymers. Microencapsulated ingredients are classified as “trouble-shooters” due to their functional value and play a significant role in the food industry by offering several advantages:

Microencapsulated ingredients advantages

Protection: The encapsulating shell provides a protective barrier for the active ingredient, shielding it from moisture, oxygen, light, heat, and other external factors that can degrade or deteriorate the ingredient. This protection helps to extend the shelf life of the ingredient and maintain its quality, flavour, and potency over a longer period.
Controlled release (retarded delivery): Microencapsulation allows for controlled release or targeted delivery of the active ingredient. The encapsulating shell can be designed to release the ingredient at specific times, under specific conditions (such as pH or temperature), or when exposed to certain triggers (such as enzymes in the digestive system). Controlled release helps to enhance the effectiveness, taste, and overall experience of the ingredient in food products.
Stability: Microencapsulated ingredients exhibit improved stability, particularly when exposed to challenging processing conditions, such as high temperatures during baking or frying. The protective shell helps the ingredient withstand these conditions and prevents it from degrading or evaporating, thereby maintaining its sensory and functional properties.
Improved solubility: Some active ingredients might have poor solubility in water or other food matrices, which can hinder their effective dispersion or incorporation into food products. Microencapsulation can improve the solubility of these ingredients, enabling better dispersibility, enhanced bioavailability, and improved functionality in food formulations.
Masking unwanted flavours or odours: Microencapsulation can be used to mask or control the release of certain flavours, odours, or ingredients that might be undesirable when directly exposed. By encapsulating these ingredients, their release can be regulated, allowing for better control of the overall sensory experience and taste perception in food products.
Ingredient protection during processing: Microencapsulation can protect sensitive ingredients from undergoing chemical reactions, degradation, or loss of functionality during processing. This is particularly relevant during high-temperature processes or interactions with other food ingredients.
Enhanced texture and mouthfeel: Encapsulated ingredients can contribute to improved texture, mouthfeel, and consistency in food products. For example, encapsulated oils can provide a smooth, creamy mouthfeel, while encapsulated flavours can impart a burst of taste upon consumption.
Improved processing: Encapsulated ingredients exhibit easier dosing and better free-flow properties and bring about dust-free handling.

Our international supply partner is a specialist in coating crystalline to fine-grained materials with fats, waxes, and water-soluble coating materials. Our uniformly and seamlessly coated raw materials create functional surfaces that find diverse applications in the food industry. Whether for frozen products, meat and fish, or vegetarian and vegan alternatives, our coated products are versatile across all sectors of the food industry. We use various active ingredients or carriers in our microencapsulated product range, including but not limited to ascorbic acid, calcium lactate, citric acid, glucono-delta-lactone, malic acid, sodium acetate, sodium hydrogen carbonate, sorbic acid, sugar and table salt. Our coating materials typically take the form of hard fats with different melting points, such as hardened palm oil, unhardened palm oil, hardened sunflower oil, hardened canola oil, mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, and water-soluble coatings such as modified starch and edible acid salts. Here are a few examples of our highly functional encapsulated trouble-shooting ingredients:

Ingredients

Ascorbic acid (coated): Sausage production is one of the key applications for our coated ascorbic acid! In meat processing, the coating of ascorbic acid causes a slower decrease of the pH and accelerates stable reddening throughout the product over a longer period. This prevents reddening defects in the accelerated production process. Another important aspect of our coated ascorbic acid is that it reduces the residual nitrate/nitrite content and is therefore an important and sometimes indispensable ingredient in sausage-making.
Citric acid, Malic acid (coated): Our coated citric and malic acids optimize the taste and structure of various confectionery & bakery products, bringing about the highest quality uniformity and maximum shelf-life! Especially in sour sweets or decorative baked goods. Our coated products only dissolve in the dough or sweet matrix during heating, and therefore delay the reduction of the pH, so that the properties of the flour or gluten are not adversely affected. Our coated malic acid intensifies the effect of artificial raising agents such as sodium hydrogen carbonate (baking soda) and other preservatives, e.g. sorbic acid or calcium propionate. The natural leavening agents, essential yeasts & enzymes, therefore, do not suffer stress from immediate acidification or excessive pH reduction, due to the delayed release. Our coated citric acid boosts freshness of various baked goods and is simply indispensable in salty snacks such as pretzels!
Erythorbic acid (coated): Erythorbic acid is a useful food additive for meat and sausage products, particularly cured meats, or frozen and dried fish with red skin, to improve colour retention. Our encapsulated erythorbic acid is “protected” from going into solution immediately, and therefore permanently prolongs the colour retention of cured meats and fish.
Glucono-delta-lactone (GDL – coated): GDL supports the stabilization of colours as well as the acid regulation of many foods. It is also used as a preservative or antioxidant, helping to adjust and stabilize the pH and preventing the growth of undesirable microorganisms. GDL is used as a ripening accelerator in sausage & canned fish. In the coated version, it serves primarily as a delayed-release acidity regulator in meat and sausage products and supports the activation of sodium hydrogen carbonate (baking soda) in baked goods.
Sodium bicarbonate (coated): Our coated sodium bicarbonate or coated baking soda ensures a highly controlled release of CO₂ and ensures an even crumb in various baked goods! Furthermore, you can use our product to run a multi-step baking process and refine popular pre-mix products such as “ready-to-use” liquid batter mixes for pancakes and waffles, so that when the consumer bakes at home, he/she produces a wonderfully light and aerated product, with no bloated packaging in which the uncoated sodium bicarbonate has already reacted.
Sorbic acid (coated): The advantage of our coated sorbic acid revolves around the retarded delivery and release of the preserving effect of the sorbic acid only during baking, ensuring an even distribution in the finished product, thus not inhibiting, or impeding the natural ripening process through microorganisms.
Sugar (coated): The coating of sugar and other decorative materials increases the freeze-thaw stability of fine bakery products and lessens the highly hygroscopic nature of the sugar in/on the final product!
Table Salt (coated): Our coating prevents the hygroscopic effect of the salt on materials with a high-water content. The coated salt is therefore ideal for dry marinating meat products, fish and vegetables or making exotic spice blends.