Casein molecular assembly affects the properties of milk fat emulsions encapsulated in lactose or trehalose matrices

Properties of spray-dried anhydrous milk fat emulsions stabilized by micellar casein (milk protein isolate—MPI) or non-micellar casein (sodium caseinate—Na-caseinate) with trehalose or lactose as encapsulants were studied. A lower concentration of Na-caseinate (0.33%) compared with MPI (1.26%) was sufficient to stabilize a 10% fat emulsion. Reconstituted emulsions showed larger droplet size than fresh emulsions, especially for MPI systems (from<1 μm to around 14 μm), which was attributed to lower shear resistance during atomization. Creaming behavior reflected changes in particle size. Powder surface free fat was affected by protein type and concentration. Trehalose systems (regardless of protein type) released significantly lower amounts of encapsulated fat upon crystallization compared with those containing lactose. Individual and hence, more mobile and flexible casein molecules, as opposed to aggregated and less mobile casein micelles, appear to result in superior co-encapsulation properties of Na-caseinate compared with MPI.