Abstract
Background: Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fatty acids that the body cannot create itself; thus, they must be obtained from functional foods. Therefore, the food processing industries are becoming more interested in the production of omega-3 enriched food products, as consumers and healthcare organizations are increasingly demanding functional foods with minimal fatty acid loss and higher oxidative stability. Moreover, the stability of long-chain, polyunsaturated fatty acids in functional foods is a major challenge for the food processing industries. Therefore, the spray drying method was used to prepare spray-dried microcapsules (SDMs) with the minimum loss of, and more stable, fatty acids. Methods: In this study, emulsion blends of chia seed oil (CSO, 50%) and fish oil (FO, 50%) were spray-dried using varied operating conditions, including the inlet air temperature (IAT) (125, 140, 155, 170, and 185 degrees C), wall material (WM) (5, 10, 15, 20, and 25%), pump speed (PS) (3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 mL/min), and needle speed (NS) (3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 S). Results: The maximum loss of ALA in the spray-dried microcapsules (SDMs) was observed (9.90 +/- 0.40%) at 170 degrees C, and the minimum loss was 4.18 +/- 0.20% in run order 9. A similar trend was observed in the maximum retention loss of EPA and DHA (9.71 +/- 0.39% and 9.77 +/- 0.39%) at a high temperature of 170 degrees C, while the minimum losses of EPA and DHA were observed in run order 9. Furthermore, the maximum peroxide value (PV) of the SDMs was observed at a lower temperature of 140 degrees C (1.45 +/- 0.19 meq O-2 /kg), and the minimum PV was 1.33 +/- 0.16 meq O-2/kg. Conclusions: Overall, based on the results, we concluded that the oxidative stability of the SDMs was improved and that it can be used as a fortifying agent in the processing of many food products.