Microencapsulation of fish oil – determination of optimal wall material and encapsulation methodology

For the first time, we present a meta-analysis of experimental and literature data to determine which microencapsulation methodology, and which wall material are best suited to protect fish oil. Our analysis covered a period of several decades of research (1984–2018). The analysis was conducted on 196 literature data-points, and 16 data-points determined experimentally for this publication. PLS regression was used to determine the influence of the predictors, with a variety of rational (k-means, Kohonen SOM, and Kennard-Stone) and random training/test division methods. Analysis of the applicability domain, determined by calculating the convex hull of the points, clearly showed that rational division methods are better than random division. It was found, that spray-granulation is best suited to protect fish oil. On the other hand, the commonly cited method of spray-drying performs quite badly. In addition, we found that the best wall materials are protein + lipid + carbohydrate and protein + lipid. The commonly used protein + carbohydrate again fared poorly. Meta-analysis such as these are crucial for the overview of methods and materials employed in the design of functional foods.