Low ferrous iron bioavailability presents a challenge for food fortification programmes. In this study, jelly foods were fortified with spray-dried chitosan microparticles that had been loaded with ferrous gluconate (FeG) and folic acid (FA) to alleviate iron deficiency anaemia and FA deficiency anaemia, respectively. The presence of FA and ascorbic acid (AA) increased the in vitro iron bioavailability of the FeG-AA-FA microparticles up to sixfold. Furthermore, the iron bioavailability of the fortified jelly foods increased more than 5 folds compared to that of the FeG-AA-FA microparticles. The use of lower temperature during the preparation of fortified jelly foods is recommended to avoid the microparticles' decomposition and a Maillard browning reaction. These findings can help food technologists and product developers select formulations with higher ferrous bioavailability to reduce the prevalence of anaemia.
Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-022-05599-7.
Keywords: Ascorbic acid; Ferrous gluconate; Folic acid; Fortification; Microencapsulation.
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