Microencapsulated Iron for Milk Fortification

This study was designed to develop a microencapsulated iron that could be used to fortify milk and to determine the sensory properties of milk fortified with microencapsulated iron. Coating material was polyglycerol monostearate (PGMS), and selected core material was ferric ammonium sulfate. The highest efficiency of microencapsulation was 75% with 5:1:30 ratio (w/w/v) as coating to core materials to distilled water. Iron release was 12% when stored at 4 degrees C for 3 days. The TBA value was the lowest when 100 ppm of capsulated iron was added into milk and was significantly lower in capsulated groups compared with that in uncapsulated groups. In an in vitro study, only 3-5% of iron was released in simulated gastric fluid (pH 3, 4, 5, and 6). Comparatively, iron release increased dramatically from 12.3% (pH 5) to 95.7% (pH 8) for 60 min of incubation in simulated intestinal fluid. In a sensory analysis, most aspects except for metallic taste and color were not significantly different between control and capsulated iron fortified milk at 3 days of storage. However, between capsulated and uncapsulated groups, astringency, metallic, color, and overall scores were significantly different. The present study indicated that the use of microencapsulated iron with PGMS is effective for fortifying milk.