engleski

Encapsulation and release kinetics of rennet from alginate/chitosan-based microparticles

Rennet is the milk-coagulating enzyme widely used in the process of cheese making. One of the most important tasks to be solved in the process of cheese making is adequate delivery of rennet. The aim of this investigation is to explore how the ionic-gelation encapsulation method can perform the immobilization of rennet. This is an important step because the conventional addition of the “free” enzyme is generally not recommended due to the negative influence on the flavor and texture. The process of rennet encapsulation in the biopolymers microcapsules was performed under previously optimized conditions. The concentration of sodium alginate was set to 1.5% (w/v) while chitosan concentration was 0.5% (w/v), and calcium chloride concentration 4%. The final concentration of rennet was set to 20% (w/v). Microcapsules loaded with rennet were produced and physicochemically characterized (microcapsules size, encapsulation efficiency, loading capacity, particle size and zeta potential). The process of encapsulation in biopolymer microcapsules did not have a negative impact on the rennet properties keeping its activity very high. Also, the rennet release data were fitted to the Korsmeyer-Peppas model and the n exponent indicated that the release mechanism was Fickian. The electrostatic interactions between rennet, alginate and chitosan were confirmed by infrared spectroscopy. The obtained results showed that rennet could be successfully encapsulated and applied in the process of cheese production.

encapsulation, rennet, microcapsules, immobilization, cheese

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