Development of Alginate–Pullulan Capsules for Targeted Delivery of Herbal Dietary Supplements in Functional Fermented Milk Products

The present study develops and optimizes a jet-cutting encapsulation method using a laboratory-scale encapsulator to incorporate herbal dietary supplements into fermented milk products. Sodium alginate and pullulan were selected as core and coating polymers, respectively, after rheological screening demonstrated that 1% alginate (η ≈ 350–450 Pa·s at 22–25 ◦C) and 2% pullulan (η ≈ 400 Pa·s at 25–30 ◦C) provide a balance between atomiza- tion, shell integrity, and fluidity. Under optimized...