condition. However, when using a similar inlet/outlet temperature regime (180 °C/110 °C) as Raposo et al. (2012), our study found lower astaxanthin degradation (4–6%; Fig. 1A & C) in the vacuum-packed samples when compared to nitrogen-flushed powder (10%) reported by Raposo et al. (2012) on week 9. Our results therefore suggest potentially higher effectiveness of vacuum-packing for retention of astaxanthinfrom H. pluvialis powder