Effect of drying, storage temperature and air exposure on astaxanthin stability from Haematococcus pluvialis

Faruq Ahmed; Yan Li; Kent Fanning; Michael Netzel; Peer M Schenk

doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2015.05.021

Effect of drying, storage temperature and air exposure on astaxanthin stability from Haematococcus pluvialis

Food Res Int. 2015 Aug:74:231-236. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2015.05.021. Epub 2015 May 9.

Authors

Faruq Ahmed¹, Yan Li², Kent Fanning³, Michael Netzel⁴, Peer M Schenk⁵

Affiliations

¹ Algae Biotechnology Laboratory, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
² College of Marine and Environmental Science, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia.
³ Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), Coopers Plains, Queensland 4108, Australia.
⁴ Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, Coopers Plains, Queensland 4108, Australia.
⁵ Algae Biotechnology Laboratory, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia. Electronic address: p.schenk@uq.edu.au.

PMID: 28411988
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2015.05.021

Abstract

Astaxanthin is a powerful antioxidant with various health benefits such as prevention of age-related macular degeneration and improvement of the immune system, liver and heart function. To improve the post-harvesting stability of astaxanthin used in food, feed and nutraceutical industries, the biomass of the high astaxanthin producing alga Haematococcus pluvialis was dried by spray- or freeze-drying and under vacuum or air at -20°C to 37°C for 20weeks. Freeze-drying led to 41% higher astaxanthin recovery compared to commonly-used spray-drying. Low storage temperature (-20°C, 4°C) and vacuum-packing also showed higher astaxanthin stability with as little as 12.3±3.1% degradation during 20weeks of storage. Cost-benefit analysis showed that freeze-drying followed by vacuum-packed storage at -20°C can generate AUD$600 higher profit compared to spray-drying from 100kgH. pluvialis powder. Therefore, freeze-drying can be suggested as a mild and more profitable method for ensuring longer shelf life of astaxanthin from H. pluvialis.

Keywords: Astaxanthin; Cost-benefit analysis; Freeze-drying; Haematococcus pluvialis; Spray-drying.