Encapsulation of peach waste extract in Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells

Abstract

As a secondary industrial product, peach waste (PW) presents an ecological problem, but is potentially a rich source of natural antioxidants. A potential and novel way to improve the phytochemical stability of waste rich in phytochemicals is encapsulation in yeast cells that possess good structural characteristics. In the present study, PW extract was encapsulated in non-plasmolyzed, plasmolyzed and living Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells using the freeze-drying method. HPLC analysis revealed that β-carotene is the most abundant carotenoid, while epicatechin and catechin are the most abundant phenolics in PW. The highest encapsulation efficiency of carotenoids (86.59 %), as well as phenolics (66.98 %), was obtained with freeze-dried non-plasmolyzed yeast cells used as carriers. Although plasmolysis can cause some changes in the structure and properties of yeast cells, it did not enhance the encapsulation efficiency of present phytochemicals. Successful encapsulation of PW extract in yeast cells was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy and SEM imaging. The obtained results present the encapsulation of sensitive compounds in yeast cells by freeze-drying as an excellent method for preserving valuable compounds and their potential use in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Keywords

• phenolics
• carotenoids
• yeast
• phytochemical stability
• epicatechin
• catechin