Data from: Dispersing hydrophobic natural colorant β-carotene in shellac particles for enhanced stability and tunable color

Color is one of the most important visual attributes of food and is directly related to the perception of food quality. The interest in natural colorants, especially β-carotene that not only imparts color but also has well-documented health benefits, has triggered the research and development of different protocols designed to entrap these hydrophobic natural molecules to improve their stability against oxidation. Here, we report a versatile microfluidic approach that utilizes single emulsion droplets as templates to prepare microparticles loaded with natual colorants. The solution of β-carotene and shellac in the solvent is emulsified by microfluidics into droplets. Upon solvent diffusion, β-carotene and shellac co-precipitates, forming solid microparticles of β-carotene dispersed in the shellac polymer matrix. We substantially improve the stability of β-carotene that is protected from oxidation by the polymer matrix and achieve different color appearances by loading particles with different β-carotene concentrations. These particles demonstrate great promise for practical use in natural food coloring.

色泽是食品最为关键的视觉属性之一，且直接关联食品品质的感官评价。人们对天然着色剂的关注度持续提升，尤其是β-胡萝卜素(β-carotene)——其不仅可赋予食品色泽，还具备大量文献证实的健康益处——这推动了各类封装方案的研发，旨在包埋这些疏水天然分子，以提升其抗氧化稳定性。本研究报道了一种通用微流控(microfluidics)方法：以单乳液液滴为模板，制备负载天然着色剂的微粒。将β-胡萝卜素与虫胶溶于溶剂后，通过微流控技术乳化形成液滴。随着溶剂扩散，β-胡萝卜素与虫胶发生共沉淀，形成以虫胶聚合物为基质、分散有β-胡萝卜素的固态微粒。本研究通过聚合物基质阻隔氧化，大幅提升了β-胡萝卜素的稳定性；同时通过调节微粒负载的β-胡萝卜素浓度，可获得多种不同的色泽效果。此类微粒在天然食品着色领域具备可观的实际应用前景。