Microencapsulation of cashew apple (Anacardium occidentale, L.) juice using a new chitosan-commercial bovine whey protein isolate system in spray drying

The aim of this work was to obtain a new stable food product from cashew apple juice encapsulated by spray-drying technique using chitosan-whey protein isolate systems. The materials were evaluated according to their physicochemical stability during storage at different conditions and characterized with respect to their particle size distribution and structure. Encapsulated commercial and natural juices showed homogenous and unimodal particle size distribution with diameters ranging from 0.2 to 5.0 mu m and from 0.2 to 40.0 mu m, respectively. Both juices demonstrated higher physicochemical stability for vitamin C and color measurements than their respective non-encapsulated juices. X-ray diffractograms evidenced that the powder juices after the 140th day of storage were still in amorphous state. These results indicate that the new product was effective in protecting sensitive compounds present in the food matrix and it was also able to remain stable throughout the study period. (C) 2012 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.