MICROENCAPSULATION OF SHARK LIVER OIL POOL BY SPRAY DRYING

The aim of this paper is to study the spray-dried microencapsulation of shark liver oil using gum arabic and maltodextrin as encapsulating agents. A mix design, was developed where the main factor was the ratio between gum arabic and maltodextrin. Vitamin A content in microencapsulated and non-microencapsulated oil was determined by reversed-phase HPLC analysis, as well as the release of vitamin A from the dried product. The following parameters were also evaluated: encapsulation efficiency, loss on drying, surface morphology and particle size. The encapsulation efficiency of microencapsulated oil increased slightly as the concentration of gum increased. To reach higher encapsulation efficiency and lower moisture content of microencapsulated oil, the combination of gum arabic and maltodextrin should be maintained at 47% and 23%, respectively, according to established manufacturing conditions. The microencapsulation of oil by spray drying has no statistically significant effect on the vitamin A content response, or on its release rate.