Gelatina comestível utilizando curcumina nanoencapsulada como corante natural

Abstract

A wide variety of colouring additives are added to foodstuff in order to improve the original visual appearance of the product. Synthetic additives are widely used since most of the colorants obtained from natural sources are unstable and can easily undergo degradation during food processing. Gelatin is a highly accepted dessert among children and adolescents due to its ease of preparing and high protein content. However, several studies on the effects of artificial colouring in gelatin has shown adverse health effects, especially in children. Because of its intense yellow colour, curcumin, a natural colorant, is a candidate for replacement of tartrazine (an artificial food colouring) on an industrial scale. The encapsulation of curcumin on biodegradable, biocompatible materials appears as a promising alternative to improve their technological properties such as low water solubility. The objective of this work was to use nanoencapsulated curcumin as natural colouring in edible gelatin formulation. Gelatin Bloom and rheological properties of gelatin with and without curcumin were evaluated. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-encapsulated curcumin showed encapsulation efficiency of 76%. Gelatin formulations presented non-Newtonian, pseudoplastic and thixotropic behavior, with decreasing viscosity versus increasing shear rate. Temperature influenced gelatin properties since as temperature was increased there was a significant decrease in hysteresis. Activation energy found was between 53 and 65 kJ / mol. Bloom analysis showed a significant difference between average values of 84.2 and 76.8 g for gelatin with and without curcumin, respectively (p <0.05). One may conclude that the addition of nanoparticles curcumin is a promising alternative to replace artificial colouring in edible gelatin.