Características físico-químicas do iogurte em pó obtido por Spray Dryer

Abstract

Natural yogurt is a common dairy product in the diet of Brazilians. With the aim of extending its shelf life, there are various preservation techniques available, including refrigeration, dehydration, additives, and other methods. Dehydration is one of the primary means to increase the durability of foods, including powdered products. Powdered yogurt is a dehydrated dairy derivative that can be used as an ingredient or dietary supplement. The purpose of this study was to produce powdered yogurt using a combination of carrier agents (maltodextrin and gum arabic) through the spray drying technique and to evaluate the physicochemical properties of the resulting product. The methodology employed involved spray drying using a laboratory-scale LM – SD 5.0 equipment with an inlet temperature of 150°C. Various solution parameters were tested by varying the quantities of carrier agents in the yogurt solutions, and the effects of these variables on product quality were analyzed. Physicochemical analyses conducted for natural yogurt included measurements of pH and oBrix, while for the powdered product, moisture, water activity, pH, oBrix, ash content, minerals (XRF), and particle size distribution were studied using Tukey method. The results showed a yield of 61.46% in the powdered product. The powdered yogurt exhibited favorable physicochemical properties, including the ideal particle diameter for the spray drying process, indicating that gum arabic and maltodextrin are excellent additives for powdered yogurt production. Therefore, the spray drying technique proved to be efficient and feasible for the production of high-quality powdered yogurt with added value.