Encapsulation of germ oil with buttermilk

I In this study, it was aimed to increase the oxidative stability of wheat germ oil (WGO) by microencapsulation because it is rich in oleic (17.88%), linoleic (55.14%) and linolenic (7.03%) acids. Buttermilk (BM), which is a waste from industrial butter production and dried by spraying, was used as the crust material in microencapsulation. Optimal production conditions were determined based on the effects of different WGO:BM ratios, the number of high pressure homogenization (HPH) passes (1-5) and the total amount of solids (10-40%) used in the emulsion which were reflected encapsulation efficiency (EE). The effects of microencapsulation on oxidative stability (peroxide, p-anisidine numbers) and composition (tocopherol, phytosterol and carotenoids) were determined by keeping WGO samples under accelerated oxidation conditions (60°C, 24 days). The EE, zeta potential and emulsion particle size of the microcapsules produced under optimum conditions (WGO:BM ratio=1:2, HPH cycle number=3 and total solids ratio=40%) were determined has 94.11%, -29.8±4.25 mV and 1341 nm, respectively. In WGO composition, linoleic acid that low oxidative stability was found to be major fatty acid (55.14%). In accelerated oxidation conditions, peroxide values of WGO and microencapsulated WGO were determined as 185.36 and 87.53 meqO_2/kg at the end of the 24th day, while p-anisidine values were as 269.03 and 165.40, respectively. During oxidation, the tocopherol, phytosterol and carotenoid amounts of microencapsulated WGO were generally higher than those of bulk WGO (P<0.05). All the findings showed that the microencapsulation protects WGO from external factors and BM is a good alternative as a wall material.