Masking/eliminating the odour of Spirulina for enhancing its consumption among consumers.

According to United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World
Health Organisation (WHO), Spirulina is considered a super food with more than
twenty two countries producing it and an annual scale production of one thousand
metric tonnes (an estimated cost of US $ 1.2 billion). But the problem of the Spirulina
is bad odour and sticky nature when directly added in food preparations. In this
context many research works focused on adding external dominating odour to recess
the algae like odour of Spirulina but none of the works focused on investigating the
cause and eliminating the odour. The objective of the work was to investigate the
cause of the odour and mask the algae like odour of Spirulina for enhancing its uptake
among consumers.
The Spirulina culture was grown indoor in Zarrouk‘s medium at 24°C and the culture
was later transferred outdoor to open raceway ponds. Growth of Spirulina culture was
monitored by measuring optical density using Spectrophotometer. After an optimal
growth, Spirulina was harvested and further subjected to drying such as oven drying,
spray drying and freeze drying. The dried biomass was ground to powder and was
analysed for odour profile by sensory analysis using Quantitative Descriptive
Analysis (QDA) and Electronic nose. The Spirulina biomass dried by different
methods was evaluated for microbial load followed by extraction of Polyamines and
Phycocyanin to check for odour attributes. The Spirulina dried powder was coated
with modified chitosan by spray drying for masking the odour. The odour masked
Spirulina was later applied for food preparation and compared with a control for
testing its quality.
The growth curve obtained showed a yield of good quality Spirulina biomass from
January-April 2015, with a collection of the required quantity of dried powders. The
analysis of the odour causing attributes has revealed that while phycocyanin doesn‘t
contribute to the odour polyamines might be the reason for the odour. The coating of
Spirulina with modified chitosan has resulted in an odour masked Spirulina. In this
field further investigation can be done on other attributes contributing to the odour.
The study can also be extended in carrying out further trials for obtaining a cheaper
coating material other than chitosan for masking the odour of Spirulina.