The popularity and consumption of fermented milk products are growing. On the other hand, consumers are interested in health-promoting and functional foods. Fermented milk products are an excellent matrix for the incorporation of bioactive ingredients, making them functional foods. To overcome the instability or low solubility of many bioactive ingredients under various environmental conditions, the encapsulation approach was developed. This review analyzes the fortification of three fermented milk products, i.e., yogurt, cheese, and kefir with bioactive ingredients. The encapsulation methods and techniques alongside the encapsulant materials for carotenoids, phenolic compounds, omega-3, probiotics, and other micronutrients are discussed. The effect of encapsulation on the properties of bioactive ingredients themselves and on textural and sensory properties of fermented milk products is also presented.

Nisin is an attractive alternative to chemical preservatives in the food industry. It is a cationic peptide of 34 amino acid residues that exhibits antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria. To ensure nisin stability in food matrices, new nisin-loaded ulvan particles were developed by the complexation method. The interaction of nisin with ulvan was demonstrated by FT-IR spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The encapsulation efficiency was calculated at different pH values within the range of 4.0–7.0 and was found to have the highest value at pH 7.0. The size and surface charge of particles fabricated at different concentrations of nisin and pH values were determined. Nisin-loaded ulvan particles exhibited antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria comparable to that of free nisin. Therefore, the developed complexes have the potential for application as biopreservatives in the food industry. For the first time, the potential of ulvan as a carrier of antimicrobial agent nisin was demonstrated.

Foodborne pathogens are frequently associated with risks and outbreaks of many diseases; therefore, food safety and processing remain a priority to control and minimize these risks. In this work, nisin-loaded magnetic nanoparticles were used and activated by alternating 10 and 125 mT (peak to peak) magnetic fields (AMFs) for biocontrol of bacteria Listeria innocua, a suitable model to study the inactivation of common foodborne pathogen L. monocytogenes. It was shown that L. innocua features high resistance to nisin-based bioactive nanoparticles, however, application of AMFs (15 and 30 min exposure) significantly potentiates the treatment resulting in considerable log reduction of viable cells. The morphological changes and the resulting cellular damage, which was induced by the synergistic treatment, was confirmed using scanning electron microscopy. The thermal effects were also estimated in the study. The results are useful for the development of new methods for treatment of the drug-resistant foodborne pathogens to minimize the risks of invasive infections. The proposed methodology is a contactless alternative to the currently established pulsed-electric field-based treatment in food processing.

β-Carotene is a very important molecule for human health. It finds a large application in the food industry, especially for the development of functional foods and dietary supplements. However, β-carotene is an unstable compound and is sensitive to light, temperature, and oxygen. To overcome those limitations, various delivery systems were developed. The inclusion of β-carotene by cyclodextrin aggregates is attractive due to non-toxicity, low hygroscopicity, stability, and the inexpensiveness of cyclodextrins. In this study, β-carotene/2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin aggregates were prepared based on the procedure of the addition of β-carotene in an organic solvent to the hot water dispersion of 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin and the following instant evaporation of the organic solvent. The best conditions for the aggregate preparation were found to be as follows: 25% concentration of 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin in water, 65 °C temperature, and acetone for β-carotene dissolution. The efficiency of entrapping was equal to 88%. The procedure is attractive due to the short time of the aggregate preparation.