Enhancing the Efficiency and Sustainability of Producing Curcumin-Infused Plant-Based Milk Alternatives With a Two-in-One Post pH-Driven Processing Strategy

Abstract

Increasing food sustainability and health benefits is essential to meet the demands of a growing global population while minimizing environmental impact. This study used a green two-in-one post pH-driven processing strategy to develop a sustainable and healthy plant-based milk alternative. It achieved both extraction and encapsulation in one step by directly incorporating the health-promoting curcumin from turmeric into soymilk. A high processing efficiency was observed, 94.2% ± 1.6%, with a high extraction efficiency of 96.4% ± 0.5%. Using raw turmeric instead of a purified curcumin significantly enhanced the sustainability in the use of raw materials, for example, reducing the CO₂-eq emissions by 22 times and energy use by 10 times, even with a very small percentage of curcumin (∼0.03 wt%) in the formulation. This strategy underscores the importance of using raw materials and minimizing processing steps to develop more sustainable foods. Additionally, the incorporation of curcumin was found to impart a yellow color to soymilk. No significant changes were observed in other physicochemical properties like particle size, zeta potential, and melting behavior, as most curcumin molecules were encapsulated within the lipid phase of soymilk. The curcumin-infused soymilk powders also maintained excellent storage stability for 1 month under freezing temperature.