Exploring the physical and quality attributes of muffins incorporated with microencapsulated squalene as a functional food additive

Abstract

Squalene, a triterpenoid compound is proven to possess immense bioactivities by virtue of its high antioxidant activity. The present study was designed to investigate the quality attributes of muffins as influenced by addition of encapsulated squalene. Nutritional analysis showed that calorific value of prepared muffins has ranged from 480.78 ± 0.10 to 501.61 ± 0.38 kcal. Baking loss was lowest in case of muffins prepared with encapsulated squalene with its crumb region recorded higher moisture content. Color kinetics study indicated that browning index (BI) was higher in crust portion of encapsulated squalene enriched muffins. Scanning electron micrographs showing that muffins with encapsulated squalene had stronger structural organization. This was further supported by the textural studies showed that the muffins with encapsulated squalene was cohesive, springier and chewy with less gumminess and stiffness indicating their efficacy in improving the textural quality. Oxidative stability and microbiological quality were also high in squalene enriched foods suggesting that squalene might have some antimicrobial effects. Outcome of the study indicated that encapsulated squalene can be very well utilised as a functional food ingredient in ready -to-eat functional foods.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at (10.1007/s13197-020-04955-9).

Keywords: Color kinetics; Encapsulated squalene; Encapsulation efficiency; Muffins; Scanning electron microscopy; Textural quality.

Fig. 1

External morphology of muffins. a, b, c represents control, pure and encapsulated squalene enriched muffins respectively. Left and right side represents micrographs taken at 100 and 500X magnification respectively)