Foods adding spirulina VS No spirulina
A broader discussion of this issue is actually the difference between functional foods and ordinary foods. Although the industry currently has different definitions of functional foods, the consensus is that functional foods, due to their added ingredients， are more beneficial to health, improve well-being and health, reduce disease risk, and/or improve disease outcomes compared to ordinary foods.
Spirulina is recognized as a superfood and a functional ingredient. The following pictures illustrate why spirulina is considered a functional ingredient.
Why more and more companies in the food industry are choosing to add spirulina to their products？
Because of its great nutritional value as a source of proteins and minerals, the biscuit and snack industry has been increasingly interested in incorporating algae, particularly spirulina, into its products. Additionally, it was found that the incorporation of spirulina into biscuits resulted in an increase in both the percentage of protein and the amount of energy, respectively, that they contained.
Spirulina has been put to use in the pasta-manufacturing industry in order to produce enriched pasta with enhanced nutritional, sensory, and therapeutic benefits. It has developed a wide variety of new food products based on spirulina in order to cater to the requirements of the customers, such as sushi, jerky, and pasta.
The production of a wide variety of dairy products includes the use of spirulina. Mocanu et al. [13] employed spirulina to improve the nutritional content of fermented dairy products.According to the findings, the consumption of spirulina over the course of the full storage time had a positive impact on the number of initiator bacteria B. animalis ssp. lactis and L. acidophilus that survived.
Because spirulina includes various antioxidants, such as polycarotene phenols, which have the power to scavenge free radicals, the usage of algae in the making of ice cream has many positive impacts on one’s health.
Type of Functional Food Products: adding spirulina
| Type of Functional Food Products | Spirulina Biomass | Other Ingredients | Ref. |
| Cookies | 10–15% | [1] | |
| Wheat Crackers | 2% and 6% | [2] | |
| Snack | 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, 10%, and 12.5% | [3] | |
| Snakes for the elderly | 750 mg/100 g | [4] | |
| Baby food formulation | 0%, 2.5%, 5%, and 7.5% | [5] | |
| Pasta | 0%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75%, and 1% | [6] | |
| Ice cream | 0.075%, 0.15%, 0.23%, and 0.3% | [7] | |
| Ayran Yoghurt | 0%, 0.25%, 0.5%, and 1% | Bifidobacterium lactis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, L. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus | [8] |
| Low-fat Probiotic Yogurt | 0.1–1% | Bacteria: L. delbruckii subsp. bulgaricus, L. acidophilus ATCC 4356, and S. thermophiles | [9] |
| Fermented Symbiotic Lassi | 0%, 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4%, and 0.5% | L. helveticus MTCC 5463 (V3) and Streptococcus thermophilus MTCC 5460 (MD2) | [10] |
| Acidophilus bifidus- thermophiles Fermented (ABT) Milk | 3 g/L | Bifidobacteria, L. acidophilus, and S. thermophiles | [11] |
| Soy Yogurt | 0.80% | L. delbruckii subsp. Bulgaricus and S. thermophilus | [12] |
Binmei Spirulina Superfine Powder VS Ordinary Spirulina Powder
Binmei Spirulina superfine powder adopts processes such as physical wall breaking and homogeneous emulsification, which greatly preserves the nutrients of spirulina and is more conducive to human digestion and absorption.
Advantages:
More delicate taste
More uniform coloring
More significant absorption and nutritional effects
[1]El Nakib D.M., Ibrahim M.M., Mahmoud N.S., Abd El Rahman E.N., Ghaly A.E. Incorporation of Spirulina (Athrospira platensis) in traditional Egyptian cookies as a source of natural bioactive molecules and functional ingredients: Preparation and sensory evaluation of nutrition snack for school children. Eur. J. Nutr. Food Saf. 2019;9:372–397. doi: 10.9734/ejnfs/2019/v9i430084.
[2]Batista A.P., Niccolai A., Bursic I., Sousa I., Raymundo A., Rodolfi L., Biondi N., Tredici M.R. Microalgae as Functional Ingredients in Savory Food Products: Application to Wheat Crackers. Foods. 2019;8:611. doi: 10.3390/foods8120611.
[3]Haoujar I., Haoujar M., Altemimi A.B., Essafi A., Cacciola F. Nutritional, sustainable source of aqua feed and food from microalgae: A mini review. Int. Aquat. Res. 2022;14:1–9.
[4]Santiago-Santos M.C., Ponce-Noyola T., Olvera-Ramírez R., Ortega-López J., Cañizares-Villanueva R.O. Extraction and purification of phycocyanin from Calothrix sp. Process Biochem. 2004;39:2047–2052. doi: 10.1016/j.procbio.2003.10.007.
[5]Madkour F.F., Kamil A.E.W., Nasr H.S. Production and nutritive value of Spirulina platensis in reduced cost media. Egypt. J. Aquat. Res. 2012;38:51–57. doi: 10.1016/j.ejar.2012.09.003.
[6]Mostolizadeh S., Moradi Y., Mortazavi M.S., Motallebi A.A., Ghaeni M. Effects of incorporation Spirulina platensis (Gomont 2020, 1892) powder in wheat flour on chemical, microbial and sensory properties of pasta. Iran. J. Fish. Sci. 2020;19:410–420.
[7]Malik P. Master’s Thesis. Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University; Bida, India: 2011. Utilization of Spirulina Powder for Enrichment of Ice Cream and Yoghurt.151p
[8]Mocanu G., Botez E., Nistor O.V., Andronoiu D.G., Vlăscean G. Influence of Spirulina platensis Biomass over Some Starter Culture of Lactic Bacteria. J. Agroaliment. Process. Technol. 2013;19:474–479.
[9]Aghajani A., Mortazav S.A., Tabtabai Yazdi F., Shafafi Zenosian M., Saeidi Asl M.R. Color, microbiological and sensory properties of low-fat probiotic yogurt supplemented with Spirulina platensis and Ferulago angulata hydroalcoholic extracts during cold storage. Banat. J. Biotechnol. 2019;10:20–34. doi: 10.7904/2068-4738-X(19)-20.
[10] Chatterjee M. Master’s Thesis. Anand Agricultural University; Anand, India: 2012. Development of Spirulina Containing Fermented Synbiotic Lassi.
[11]Varga L., Szigeti J., KováCs R., FoLdes T., Buti S. Influence of A Spirulina platensis Biomass on the Microflora of Fermented Abt Milks During Storage (R1) Am. Dairy Sci. Assoc. (J. Dairy Sci.) 2002;85:1031–1038. doi: 10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(02)74163-5.
[12] Sengupta S., Bhowal J. Optimization of Ingredient and Processing Parameter for the Production of Spirulina platensis Incorporated Soy Yogurt Using Response Surface Methodology. J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. Food Sci. 2017;6:1081–1085. doi: 10.15414/jmbfs.2017.6.4.1081-1085.
[13]Mocanu G., Botez E., Nistor O.V., Andronoiu D.G., Vlăscean G. Influence of Spirulina platensis Biomass over Some Starter Culture of Lactic Bacteria. J. Agroaliment. Process. Technol. 2013;19:474–479.
