engleski

Simultaneous encapsulation of dairy rennet and calcium ions in alginate microparticles

Dairy rennet is a natural curdling enzyme that is used to make cheese. It ensures that the milk curdles without becoming sour. One of the most important tasks to be solved in the process of cheese making is adequate protection and timely delivery of dairy rennet. This research aims to explore the possibility of simultaneous encapsulation of diary rennet and calcium ions by the ionic-gelation encapsulation method. This is an important step, as the conventional addition of the “free” enzyme is generally not recommended due to its 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) and calcium chloride concentration to 4%. The final concentration of rennet was set to 20% (w/v). Microparticles loaded with rennet were produced and physicochemically characterized (microparticle size, encapsulation efficiency, loading capacity). Simultaneous encapsulation in biopolymer microparticles did not have a negative impact on the dairy 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 calcium ions were confirmed by infrared spectroscopy. The obtained results showed that dairy rennet and calcium ions can be successfully simultaneously encapsulated and applied in the process of cheese production.

encapsulation, dairy rennet, microcapsules, calcium ions, cheese

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