Liposomes carry various compounds with applications in pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic fields, and the administration route is especially parenteral, oral, or transdermal. Liposomes are used to preserve and release the internal components, thus maintaining the properties of the compounds, the stability and shelf life of the encapsulated products, and their functional benefits. The main problem in obtaining liposomes at the industrial level is their low stability due to fragile phospholipid membranes. To increase the stability of liposomes, phospholipid bilayers have been modified or different coating materials have been developed and studied, both for liposomes with applications in the pharmaceutical field and liposomes in the food field. In the cosmetic field, liposomes need no additional coating because the liposomal formulation is intended to have a fast penetration into the skin. The aim of this review is to provide current knowledge regarding physical and chemical factors that influence stability, coating materials for liposomes with applications in the pharmaceutical and food fields to increase the stability of liposomes containing various sensitive compounds, and absorption of the liposomes and commercial liposomal products obtained through various technologies available on the market.

A challenge in the development process for the new products is represented by the stability study and the determination of the shelf-life of the products that will be launched on the market. Often, these important characteristics, for success on the market, are needed without having the necessary time available for a real-life study. The purpose of this research was to study the physico-chemical and microbiological processes of degradation to set the Accelerated Shelf-Life Testing (ASLT) parameters for a new dry snack food product development. The experimental samples of dry snack food formulations were stored in certain conditions of temperature, humidity and light (accelerated degradation process) for a total period of 30 days. After the final period of storage to evaluate stability over time, the product was subject to a physical-chemical analysis to determine the following parameters: moisture content and activity of water. Microbiological analysis regarding Total Plate Count (TPC) was performed also on the stored samples to highlight the microbiological growth. After performing the analysis, the intervals for the degradation process parameters were established: temperature (35 °C, 45 °C, 55 °C), humidity (65%, 75%, 85%), and light (on/off). These data will be used later for the development of the accelerated aging model to evaluate the shelf life for a new dry snack food product. The water activity (a_w) must be below the value of 0.75, the moisture content between 4% and 6% and for microbiological analysis TPC below 10⁴. The greatest influence in the depreciation of the product was the temperature, which led to physico-chemical and microbiological changes. Given the light and the vapor barrier provided by the product packaging, the other depreciation factors (humidity, light) did not have a significant influence on the depreciation of the product.

The aim of the research was to identify the flavor profile and the sensory performance in food