EDTA enabled chelation for stability and sensory quality in iron enriched coffee.

The research aims to unveil the iron fortification of coffee with chelating agents for reducing iron-polyphenol complexation. Among fortificants, Ferrous Sulphate (FS) exhibited complexation of 1.78 mM FeCl₃/TAE due to Fe2+ and was selected for further evaluation. Chelators considerably decreased complexation by 89-94%; with EDTA as the competitive ligand due to preferential chelation at 1:1 of FS-FC:EDTA ratio (0.18 mM FeCl₃/TAE). FTIR showed attenuated FeO phenolic stretching (500-600 cm-1), dynamic light scattering revealed stable colloidal aggregation (-33.10 to -39.33 mV and 231 to 376 d.nm). Bioaccessibility of iron increased from 17.40% in FS-FC to 24.14% with EDTA addition. The sensory profile of the fortified coffee (FC) remained largely comparable to unfortified coffee (UC), as supported by E-nose, E-tongue, and GC-MS analyses. This study represents the effective use of EDTA for iron fortification in coffee with optimized nutrient delivery and sensory, may contribute to reducing iron deficiency via a globally consumed beverage.