Why Choose Food Research Lab's FRL as Your Food Product Development (FPD) Consultant and Partner?

There are several options in almost every product area in today’s market, and the difficulty is in coming up with unique items that stand out and connect with customers. Food Research Lab's Food Research Lab (FRL) takes a holistic approach to creating food and beverage products. We define, demographically target, and build effective goods through a sequential process for category selection and comprehension. The client can visit the lab to learn the process. We offer unlimited rounds of revisions to ensure customer satisfaction. The final product prototype, along with the documentation process, including the video (through email), will be shipped to the client, and in case the client is not satisfied with the video, a food technology consultant will visit the place for the product demo at the client’s costs.

What are the different forms that you deliver the Food Product Formulations?

The food industry is witnessing a new form of consumption. Keeping that in mind, we can formulate the products in the form of ready-to-eat, ready-to-drink, ready-to-mix, ready-to-serve, and ready-to-cook food products. We use ingredients that offer an added value to the development and improve its indulgence and sustainability in terms of its functional ingredients, plant-based food dyes, and natural preservatives with a clean label.

What are the sectors Food Research Lab cover?

We cover a wide range of sectors such as soups, sauces and dips, chips, tortillas, dry beverage powder, plant-based products, masalas, puddings, instant mixes and many more.

How is sensory testing been carried out?

Our sensory examination leads to the precise formulation and recipe recommendations. We develop data-driven design models based on sensory research and customer insights. The fact-based design methodology used by Food Research Lab reduces risk and gives our clients market confidence while cutting development time in half. With our dedicated sensory lab facility, our team takes satisfaction in creating and optimizing successful products in the marketplace, generating a favourable return on investment, and developing brand advocates.

Microencapsulation for Cosmeceutical Products

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Microencapsulation for Cosmeceutical Products

INTRODUCTION  

The pharmaceutical, food, cosmetic, textile, personal care, agricultural, chemical, biotechnology, biomedical, and sensor sectors have researched microencapsulation extensively. Growing research in this field can be attributed to the fact that microencapsulation can be used to formulate value-added products.
The global cosmetics and personal care products business is valued at several billion dollars and has grown significantly. With more and more uses in this industry, microencapsulation has been employed to create more reliable, efficient cosmetic formulations with superior sensory qualities.
Sunscreens, perfumes, moisturising, tanning, whitening and anti-ageing agents are a few examples that have been studied for microencapsulation. Other areas studied for microencapsulation include formulation and stabilisation of topical medicines, recent and upcoming advancements, challenges, and future developments [1].

Cosmetic active ingredients encapsulated for topical application 

Microencapsulation has been extensively studied in skincare and beauty products for their application. Vitamin A (VA), or retinol, is an antioxidant in skincare products.
Examples include Vitamin A serum (retinol face serum), retinol face wash, retinol hand cream, retinol peel and retinol cream for pigmentation.
It restores skin suppleness and reduces flaking, thereby reducing skin dryness and improving skin health.
Jenning and others evaluated the potential applications of Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLN) in cosmetics and dermatology by encapsulating VA in glyceryl behenate SLN via melt solidification [2].

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of microencapsulation technique [1]

Microencapsulation in cosmetics 

The cosmetics and personal care industries rely heavily on delivery systems and microcapsules. They provide an ideal and one-of-a-kind carrier system for active ingredients, making it possible to release, isolate, and protect active ingredients, making the formulations more viable, masking undesirable aspects like the smell and enhancing the properties and appearance of the product.
Microencapsulation can be used to formulate shower and shower gels, moisturisers and creams, hair care products, sunscreens and tanning creams, cosmetics, fragrances, cleansers and exfoliants [3].

Figure 2: Schematic diagram of the encapsulation process [3]

Encapsulating materials for cosmetic applications

The core material encapsulated is the active ingredient to be used, and the material depends on the final cosmetic product where the capsules will be incorporated and the desired function.
Other factors considered for choosing an encapsulation material are chemical and physical stability, mechanism of release of the active ingredient, concentration and particle size.
Toxicity, biocompatibility, stability, viscosity, and mechanical properties, compatibility between the active ingredient and the wall material, the release of the active ingredient into the skin from the vehicle, enhancement of active penetration into the stratum corneum, intended particle size and microscopic properties of the surface of the microparticles, as well as the processing and economic factors, should all be taken into consideration when selecting a wall material for use in topical applications.
The right decision of the shell material is fundamental as it impacts the efficacy and protection of the microcapsules.
Commonly used core materials in cosmetic products for topical application have been reviewed. Encapsulating materials can be chosen from biodegradable and non-biodegradable polymers. Extensive research has been conducted on protecting active agents in micro-sized carriers for controlled release over time.
Natural and biodegradable biopolymers like chitosan are preferred as encapsulating materials. When in contact with human tissues, these natural materials are non-toxic, non-reactive, and can be broken down, metabolised, and eliminated. Other polymers studied include aliphatic polyesters like poly(lactic acid) (PLA), and copolymers of lactic and glycolic acids like PLGA (poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)) are the encapsulating materials that are more popular for use in skin delivery systems.
However, the structure of chitosan can be altered to produce water-soluble chitosan, which is easily soluble in neutral aqueous solutions and expands the compound’s application range[4].

Conclusion:

Consumers’ demand for improved efficacy and safety of the products has fuelled an interest in more complex and sophisticated products.
Microencapsulation of active ingredients has become increasingly popular in cosmetics and personal care products since the functionality of the active ingredients can be enhanced, and the product has added value. In addition, technological advancements have made microencapsulation more feasible.