Encapsulation of interesterified red palm oil and sacha inchi oil by using canna porous starch (Canna edulis Kerr.) as infant milk formula fortification

Enzymatic interesterification (EIE) of red palm oil (RPO) and sacha inchi oil (SIO) is used in the preparation of infant milk formula due to its high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and palmitic acid at the sn-2 position. However, PUFAs are highly prone to oxidation, making encapsulation necessary to preserve their integrity. In this study, porous starch (PS) from canna (Canna edulis Kerr.), prepared via enzymatic hydrolysis, was used as a wall material for encapsulation.We encapsulated the interesterified RPO-SIO using canna PS, studied the characterization of the encapsulation, compared with native starch, and studied the application in infant milk formula. The best encapsulation formulation was 37.5 :37.5 :25 (canna PS: gum arabic: skim milk) with 94.67 encapsulation efficiency. Encapsulation using PS yielded higher water content, water activity, and solubility compared to that using native starch. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses showed that oil could be encapsulated in PS. Scanning electron microscopy imaging exhibited less agglomeration in the PS. PS showed good protection from oxidation due to the lower peroxide value and p-anisidine value. The protective effect of porous starch (PS) was attributed to its fatty acid composition, which helped preserve polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). The fortified infant milk formula exhibited a yellowish color change and an increase in PUFA content due to the higher powdered oil content. Sensory analysis revealed that panelists could distinguish between the fortified and commercial milk. This study concluded that canna PS is a viable option for fortifying infant milk formula and demonstrated that increasing powdered oil content enhances PUFA levels. © 2026 The Authors