Porous starch for flavor delivery in a tomato-based food application

The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of porous starch, a newly proposed flavor carrier, in a simulated real industrial application. A liquid tomato flavor was plated onto porous starch, as well as onto maltodextrin, and also spray dried, being the latter the most common flavor encapsulation technique used by the food flavor industry. The three flavor systems were added into a tomato sauce that was subjected to sterilization and ambient storage to verify flavor resistance to sterilization and shelf life, measured by sensory and chemical analyses. The three flavor systems showed a similar flavor content after sterilization and similar behavior during shelf-life. Both sensory and chemical analyses confirmed that the polarity of the solvent used to carry the flavor molecules onto porous starch is a key factor in determining flavor retention over time.