Seeking Ingredient Encapsulation Technologies for Beverages

An increase in health awareness by consumers has led to an increased demand for functional beverages. However, many functional ingredients have challenges (e.g., stability, solubility, taste) in a low pH beverage during its production or over the course of its shelf-life. Typical functional ingredients vary from botanicals to natural colors, etc.

We are looking for novel encapsulation technologies for various functional (and other) ingredients in a beverage system. Ideally the technology can work across various beverage systems and ingredients though multiple technologies for different systems/ingredients are also acceptable.

Key Success Criteria:

• We are interested in encapsulation technologies for multiple ingredients:
• Hydrophobic or oil-soluble ingredients
• Hydrophilic or water-soluble ingredients

Ingredients of interest can include things like (but not limited to) the following:

• Botanicals
• Natural colorants like anthocyanins
• Vitamins

Must-Have requirements:

• Safe to consumer and have safety data to understand toxicology effects
• The encapsulant is stable in acidified beverages with a neutral pH trigger
• The encapsulant is stable both in concentrated and diluted system
• Stable at low pH (2.7-3.2) beverage at ambient for 6-9 months (Stable to light, heat, no sedimentation or phase separation).
• Stable after thermal process (approximately 200-205F for 33 seconds)
• Minimal to no sensory impact on final product
• Minimum 6 months ingredient shelf-life

Preferred requirements:

• Ingredient has longer shelf-life (12 months or more)
• Consumer friendly label (no harsh names)
• Encapsulation should be able to accommodate substrate load of at least 50%
• Should be able to deliver substrate ranging from 150-600ppm in the finished beverage

Approaches Not of Interest:

Technology for research purposes with only lab scale feasibility

Preferred collaboration Type:

PepsiCo is open to a range of collaboration types.

Resources Available when collaborating with us:

• Access to PepsiCo expertise - Work directly with PepsiCo’s team of scientists and engineers with deep experience in materials science, packaging and bringing new products to market at massive scale.
• Funding -Proposal-dependent, typically ranges from $25,000 to $100,000 for a proof-of-concept project with the potential for follow-on funding for 1 - 3 years
• Expertise - Work directly with SME with deep experience in beverage.