Electrospinning helps create protective coating around health-promoting food ingredients

So-called functional ingredients, such as probiotics, prebiotics, and stanols and sterols are increasingly being added to foods to boost the immune system or reduce cholesterol, for example.

However, protecting these sensitive materials as they pass through the upper gastro-intestinal tract and ensuring they are delivered safely to their target site within the body is no easy task, according to Dr Nick Tucker of the School of Engineering at the University of Lincoln.

Researchers have investigated a number of different methods for encapsulating the materials inside a protective casing, but many of these processes, such as spray-drying, are themselves too harsh, and can damage the structure of the molecules, or harm the bacteria.

So instead Tucker and his colleagues at the Research Institute of Food Science and Technology in Iran have been investigating the use of electrospinning to encapsulate the materials. In electrospinning, a solution is drawn through an electrically-charged hollow needle onto a grounded target. As the solution is drawn towards the target, it stretches out into an extremely fine fibre.