Development of a process for sugar fortification with vitamin-A

A discontinuous cooling crystallization process was developed for sugar fortification with retinyl palmitate seeds (RP, vitamin-A). Saturated sugar solutions at 70 °C were prepared. Different concentrations seeds were added. Linear and natural cooling profiles were induced with stirring speeds of 90 and 180 rpm in batchs of 240 and 300 minutes. Changes in sugar solubility in water, due to RP, were analyzed. At the end of each experiment, the crystals were filtered and dried; the RP concentration, adhered to their faces and encapsulated, was measured and the percentage of degradation was determined. These measurements were repeated during 60 days with the fortified crystals, stored at ambient conditions in paper bags. In addition, organoleptic tests were performed to determine differences in taste against commercial sugar. The results showed that: it was possible to encapsulate the RP seeds to fortify the sugar, the degradation of the RP in the process was less than 32%, there were no significant changes in either solubility or taste and the proposed process increased the shelf life of fortified sugar.

Keywords: degradability, encapsulation, fortification, retinyl palmitate, sugar.