Vit D food fortification a ‘major industry challenge’

Food fortification can pose a problem to food and beverage makers. This is because sensitive ingredients, such as vitamins, can’t always withstand harsh food and drink manufacturing processes.

But if sensitive ingredients like vitamins – including the Holy Grail, Vitamin D – can be protected right throughout the processing, storage and digestion stages, a wide range of products could be more efficiently fortified.

Herein lies an opportunity for food and drink makers.

Food and beverage opportunity lies in protecting sensitive nutrientsMany in cooler climates suffer from Vitamin D deficiency. The valuable nutrient is produced in the skin when exposed to sunlight, and from there plays an important role in maintaining healthy bones and muscles.

For those with limited access to sunlight, including populations living further away from the equator, supplements can help boost Vitamin D levels. But with the rise of pill fatigue, consumers often want to ingest their nutrients in other ways.

Microencapsulation technology from start-up Xampla presents a potential solution. In fresh research published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Cambridge University spin-out successfully shows its pea protein-based microcapsules (which are quite literally microscopic in size at around 19 microns across) can protect sensitive functional ingredients in food and drink.

Scientists wrapped Vitamin D2 (a type of Vitamin D found in plants and yeast) in Xampla’s spray-dried plant protein microcapsules to test how the fat-soluble nutrient fared throughout food manufacturing, storing and digestion.

On the food processing side of things, the plant protein capsules maintained their integrity throughout – even after exposure to boiling water, which mimics pasteurisation conditions. Neither high temperatures nor vigorous mixing degraded the nutrient.

The ingredients also remained stable in transit, storage, and impressively, through gastric digestion. Once the microcapsules reached the small intestine, the Vitamin D was released.

Which food and drink products can be made ‘functional’?Vitamin D is “hugely relevant” from a public health perspective, explains Xampla’s Hannah Pearse, who serves as nutrition business development manager. It also represents many of the challenges seen in fortification.

But Vitamin D is not the only ingredient used in food fortification. Pearse sees “significant” opportunity for a wide-range of ingredients to be used in beverages to make vitamin-enriched drinks, functional products, and dairy products – in all products where maintaining nutrient stability during processing can be challenging.

Other opportunities exist in sports nutrition and clinical nutrition, as well as in the meat and dairy alternatives space. “With a move towards plant-based eating, companies manufacturing dairy or meat alternatives wanting to enhance the nutritional profile of products could also find this of interest,” we’re told.

Xampla partners with manufacturers and distributorsBy solving this challenge, it’s thought manufacturers can more efficiently fortify their products.

“Wasteful” practices currently exist in the industry, according to the study authors, including the use of extra ingredients to meet nutrition claims on packaging, and increased cost.

For Xampla’s chief technical officer Dr Marc Rodriguez, the paper provides the “clearest evidence yet” that the start-up’s microcapsules solve a “major problem” in the functional food and supplement industry. “We can take oil-based additional ingredients and ensure they remain stable through processing, transit and storage, all the way to digestion.”

Some food and beverage makers have already shown interest in Xampla’s technology. The start-up has secured partnerships with beverage-focused Britvic and Chinese dairy company Yili, and most recently inked a distribution deal with Lehmann Ingredients.

It’s hoped the collaboration will open FMCG doors for Xampla, with a focus on the personalised nutrition market. “Personalised nutrition is growing quickly, Xampla head of business development Stanley Mitchell said at the time. ”We hope to bring microcapsules to a broader market through partnerships because we think they’re addressing a consumer health need.”

Xampla’s earlier work in pea protein includes edible packaging, notably a dissolvable stock cube wrapper that consumers could simply throw in hot water – stock cube, wrapper and all.

Source: Sustainable Food Technology. “Digestibility and enteric release achieved with microencapsulates made from emulsion-templated plant proteins.” Published: February 26, 2025. DOI: 10.1039/d4fb00375f. Authors: Luke Wayne Browning, Lynette Anne Makins, Holland, Tuomas Knowles et al.