Pectin-Iron Capsules: A Nontraditional Delivery System Based on Ionic Gelation

Abstract

Encapsulation is one of the strategies to protect lactic acid bacteria from technological and physiological adverse environments. This chapter provides experimental conditions to produce iron-pectin microcapsules by ionic gelation, as matrices to encapsulate Lactiplantibacillus plantarum CIDCA 83114. Low degree of methylation pectins (from citrus) and FeSO4 can be used to generate the beads, and the obtained beads can be physicochemically, structurally, and thermically characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), swelling, texture and thermogravimetric assays, as well as porosimetry, X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF), particle size, ζ potential, and Mössbauer and infrared spectroscopy. The experimental details have been provided.