Fabrication of emulsion-templated oleogels with whey protein isolate and carboxymethyl chitosan for delivery of Antarctic krill oil.

This study prepared emulsion-templated oleogels stabilized by whey protein isolate (WPI) and carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) to encapsulate Antarctic krill oil (AKO). The effects of the WPI/CMCS mass ratio on both the intermediate (emulsion) and final (oleogel) products were examined. The emulsions stabilized by both WPI and CMCS exhibited higher physical stability and mechanical strength compared to those stabilized by WPI alone. Results indicated that the stability, viscoelasticity, viscosity, and 3D printing performance of the emulsions, as well as the oil holding capacity (OHC) and hardness of the oleogels, increased with the ratio of CMCS. When the volume fraction of the oil phase was 40 % and the mass ratio of WPI to CMCS was 1:0.5, the oleogels exhibited the highest OHC (77.82 ± 0.08 %) and hardness (6.81 ± 0.36 N). The oxidative stability of oleogels was notably higher in comparison to AKO. In vitro digestion studies revealed that the bioaccessibility of astaxanthin was significantly improved in the oleogel compared with AKO. Furthermore, the oleogel effectively masked the fishy odor of AKO. This study has significant implications for the development of AKO carriers derived from protein/polysaccharide complexes, addressing existing limitations and expanding the applications of AKO in food industry.