Microencapsulated Iron for Food Fortification

Lipid microcapsules of FeSO 4 , alone or with ascorbic acid, and FeCl 3 , were developed to fortify cheese and other high moisture foods with iron. Varying lipid coat composition and amount of core iron solution optimized their stability. A high melting fraction of milk fat (m.p. 43.5°C) was oxidized by iron and was thus unsuitable as coat material. Microcapsules made with cottonseed stearine (m.p. 62.8°C) had good oxidative stability and retained more iron under rapid stirring at 39°C than those made with hydrogenated milk fat (m.p. 49.0°C). Microcapsules having good oxidative stability and low leakage of iron were coated with stearine and had a ratio of 0.10g Fe solution/g lipid coat. Microencapsulation may allow fortification of cheese and other iron sensitive foods.