The preparation of microbeads was carried out by emulsification/internal ionotropic gelation of sodium alginate and pectin and their whey protein blends. In order to compare the size and entrapment efficiency of plain alginate and pectin microbeads using the emulsification/internal gelation technique, control alginate and pectin beads were formulated by the simple external (hydrophilic) gelation technique. For the production of control microbeads, external gelation of alginate (Acontr) and pectin (Pcontr) for production of microbeads encapsulating dandelion polyphenols was carried out by following the method adopted by Belscak-Cvitanovic et al. (2015a). For that purpose, alginate and pectin
(2%, w/v) solutions were prepared by dissolving sodium alginate orpectin in the previously prepared dandelion extract and stirring over night. The prepared encapsulant solutions were dripped through a syringe with a blunt stainless steel needle (18e22 Gauge) in the cross-linking solution consisting of 2% (w/v) calcium chloride dissolved in dandelion extract. After the ions exchange, the microparticles were allowed to stirr gently in the collection solution and then stored in that way until the analysis