New concept of fortified yogurt formulation with encapsulated carrot waste extract

High yogurt consumption worldwide has opened the opportunity for designing a new concept of this fermented dairy product as an extremely valuable functional food item, fortified with bioactive components such as carotenoids. In this way, daily diets can become more effective in reducing diseases associated with nutritional deficiencies as well as alleviate the problem of accumulation of food by-products that are rich in bioactive components. In this study, after the extraction of carotenoids from carrot waste (CW) and complete characterization, the encapsulation process was carried out by electrostatic extrusion. Two concentrations of completely characterized CW beads (2.5 and 5 g/100g) were added to yogurt during the final step of yogurt preparation. Comparative studies of control and fortified yogurts were executed during a storage period of 28 d at 4 °C. Yogurt fortification with both concentrations provides a part of β-carotene recommended daily intake. Overall, microbiological and physico-chemical properties of the fortified yogurts were well-maintained during the storage period. The encapsulated carotenoids considerably improved the antioxidant activity of the yogurt; therefore, it can be used for the development of fortified yogurt with high nutritional properties.