Adding functionals and naturals to your formulations

Natural flavours, natural aromas, natural colours and healthfulness are in demand by consumers. These attributes give foods and beverages a decisive buying factor.

How to incorporate these features into foods is not always as easy for food manufacturers. Some functional ingredients have flavours or aromas that need to be disguised, some require protection from oxidation or moisture.

One way to incorporate these ingredients is to contain them in a protective shell and convert them into free-flowing powders.

Fluid bed granulation can be used to do this. In this state-of-the-art method liquids with a high solid content are sprayed onto a fluid bed via a jet system. In interplay with controllable temperatures of between 30 and 130°C, an intensive heat and material exchange enables a uniform drying process without thermal damage. The nutritional characteristics of aromas or vitamins remain intact within the foodstuffs beyond the minimum shelf life. This system can be used with plant extracts and aromas, milk or whey-based protein concentrates and colouring agents.

The powders created have optimal flow behaviour and easy dosing attributes. There is no need for additional carriers or additives so the list of ingredients that have to be declared remains short.

Modern fluid bed systems are quite compact and can combine drying, granulation and coating in one work process.

Multifunctional systems are capable of doing even more than just producing agglomerates with optimum solubility: they are able to integrate vitamins, minerals and fruit aromas into a stable matrix.

A micrometre-thin maltodextrin and starch layer can efficiently protect the ingredients that are sensitive to oxidation against influences such as light and oxygen. These microcapsules don’t release their embedded contents until the food is eaten. A prime example for this is the encapsulation of sodium chloride in a fine shell made of fat. The coated grains of salt form concentrated salt spots in food. The spots set stronger signals in the tasting receptors and are perceived more intensely. This enables the salt in bakery and frozen products such as pizza to be reduced by up to 20% without having an effect on the taste experience.

Worldwide there is a great deal of movement in the market for food ingredients, particularly in the trend towards more naturalness. Fluid bed granulation technology gives food and beverage processors a way to incorporate innovative ingredients into their products and win over new groups of consumers.

From 20 to 23 March 2018, Anuga FoodTec in Cologne will have on show different options for granulating, coating, encapsulating, agglomerating and instantising.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/seralex