Introduction.

Fumaric acid is used in the food industry as a reducing agent, texture improver, leavening agent, pH regulator and preservative.

Objective.

Evaluate the effects of encapsulated and non-encapsulated fumaric acid on the quality properties of muffins.

Materials and methods.

Fumaric acid with and without encapsulant was incorporated into a muffins formulation at a level of 0.25 and 0.125 g/g of wheat flour on a dry weight basis. Water activity, weight loss, height, specific volume, color parameters and textural properties of muffins were evaluated. In addition, the storage behavior of the firmness and sensory acceptance of a sample without fumaric acid (control) and the treatment that presented the best results in the quality tests was assessed.

Results.

The levels of fumaric acid used in muffins did not significantly affect the water activity, weight loss, height and color parameters of the samples. The formulation selected to evaluate the storage behavior for 8 days was the sample with 0.25% of encapsulated fumaric acid with respect to wheat flour because it had the highest volume and the lowest values of firmness.

Conclusion.

The muffins with 0.25% encapsulated fumaric acid had lower firmness than the control sample during the storage. Moreover, no significant differences were found in the sensory characteristics of these two samples, proving the effectiveness of this additive as a quality improver in bakery products.

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