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Encapsulation

Project Background 

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.

Project Description

PepsiCo is 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.

We are looking for technology that has strong commercial feasibility with key factors being scale-up, cost, regulation, and whether it can be a platform for many diverse ingredients.

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 PepsiCo

  • 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.

 

Submit Ideas!

 

Related Tech Needs:

 

Photo by GuerrillaBuzz Crypto PR on Unsplash

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