Key Points
Ice cream is a popular dairy product. Although per capita consumption of ice cream is very low in India, but the annual growth rate of ice cream market is very high i.e., 12–15%. Previous studies have demonstrated that fortification is one of the best approaches to combat macro and micronutrient deficiencies. No study has been conducted on the fortification of microencapsulated form of flaxseed oil. The present study was planned to optimize the process conditions of addition of microencapsulated flaxseed oil powder (MFOP) in ice cream and evaluate the oxidative stability of ALA during storage. The results showed that sensory attributes viz. color and appearance and body and texture of omega-3 fortified ice cream and control did not differ significantly throughout the storage period. However, the scores for body and texture and mouthfeel decreased gradually for butter scotch flavored ice-cream samples during the storage. A significant decrease was observed in flavor scores of MFOP fortified ice-cream irrespective of the fortification level than that of control. Microencapsulated flaxseed oil powder used for the development of omega-3 fortified ice-cream remained oxidative stable for the studied period of storage. Sensory attributes of fortified ice-cream revealed that the developed omega-3 fortified ice cream (butter scotch and strawberry flavored) remained organoleptically acceptable till the studied period of storage. ALA content was reduced on account of storage. A serving of 100 g of developed functional ice-cream containing 4% MFOP could meet approximately 45% of the RDA of ALA on 0 day of storage. Functional ice cream stored for 120 days could meet over 35% of the RDA.
ABSTRACT
Microencapsulated flaxseed oil powder (MFOP) was supplemented for the fortification of α-linolenic acid (ALA, ω-3 fatty acid) in ice cream. Processing parameters were optimized in terms of the stage of homogenization of ice-cream mix, level of fortification (3, 4 and 5%) and flavors (vanilla, butter scotch and strawberry). Data revealed that free fatty acids increased significantly during first 15 days in all the samples and then remained constant. Peroxide value and thiobarbituric acid value first increased up to 30 and 45 days, respectively; and then decreased followed by a gradual increase up to 120 days. Fatty acids profile showed 18.74-21.38% decrease in ALA content in fortified ice creams after 120 days. A serving of 100 g of freshly prepared functional ice cream was able to meet ~ 45% of the RDA (1.4 g ALA/day), which reduced to 35.37-36.56% on the end of storage i.e. 120 days. Overall, it can be concluded that MFOP was oxidative stable in ice-cream throughout the storage, which could be fortified successfully at 4% (w/w) level.
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