The encapsulates of carrot waste oil extract improved the antioxidant properties of durum wheat pasta. The aim of this research was to study the kinetics of carotenoids degradation in the freeze-dried (FDE) and spray-dried (SDE) encapsulates of carrot waste extract during storage at four different temperatures (+4, +21.3, +30, +37 °C) up to 413 days by HPLC. Carotenoids levels decreased as a function of time and temperature, following zero-order kinetics. At 4 °C carotenes were stable for at least 413 days, but their half-lives decreased with increasing temperatures: 8-12 months at 21 °C; 3-4 months at 30 °C; and 1.5-2 months at 37 °C. The freeze-drying technique was more effective against carotenes degradation. An initial lag-time with no or very limited carotenes degradation was observed: from one week at 37 °C up to 3 months (SDE) or more (FDE) at 21 °C. The activation energies (Ea) varied between 66.6 and 79.5 kJ/mol, and Ea values tended to be higher in FDE than in SDE.
Keywords: Arrhenius; activation energy; freeze-drying encapsulation; spray-drying encapsulation; β-carotene.