Water-dispersible microparticles of polyunsaturated oils

Health benefits of polyunsaturated oils are well known; nevertheless, incorporating these oils into food/feed products is not possible due to their chemical instability. Here purified fish oil with 32% (w/w) polyunsaturated fatty acids is co-encapsulated with the antioxidant butylhydroxyanisole, into 1.0 +/- 0.7m cellulose-based microspheres by solvent precipitation method, at the fish oil loading content of 41% and encapsulation efficiency of 81%. Aqueous suspension of the encapsulated fish oil particles shows significantly improved oxidative stability, thermal stability, photostability and shelf-life stability. Dry powder of the fish oil particles shows excellent shelf-life stability. Double bond functionality of the encapsulated oil can tolerate high production temperature such as the shrimp feed production process (95 degrees C for 10min) or spray dry process (outlet temperature of 120 degrees C). This encapsulation strategy using biocompatible cellulose polymer should enable effective and versatile applications of polyunsaturated oils in foods, feeds and cosmetics.