Integration paper about “Spray Dried Fermented Milk Products” by Kritika Rawat et al.

2020

Objective/s:

 provide a state of knowledge on the preparation of spray dried fermented milk powder.

Spray drying is very important for dairy industry. Fermented milk products have a short shelf
life. Because of their probiotic nature, they provide numerous health benefits. The majority of
fermented dairy products are available in liquid form, which is highly perishable. Spray drying
technology provides a better, more convenient, and more affordable method of preserving such
products by increasing their storability and shelf stability from a week to several months. The
technology converts fermented milk products into powder form, which is stable, probiotic, easy to use,
and easy to transport, and is suitable for food sector solicitations.

Fermented milk products are typically kept in the refrigerator to extend their shelf life.
Furthermore, they require refrigeration during transportation, which raises the cost, which may be
prohibitively expensive for those living in rural areas. Spray drying has been used in the drying of
fermented milk products to make powders that can be stored for longer periods at ambient
temperatures in order to deal with the perishable nature of these products and reduce transportation
costs. Spray drying fermented milk products is a time-consuming task due to their acidic pH, which
causes adhesiveness in the driers' chamber and makes powder recovery difficult. Another disadvantage
of spray drying fermented milk products is that key flavor components such as diacetyl in curd and
acetaldehyde in yogurt are lost. The spray drying method depends on material concentration, feed rate,
nozzle pressure, inlet and outlet air temperature, and cellular damage caused by thermal and
dehydration stress during drying. One of the major challenges in obtaining probiotic dairy powder with
pleasant textural properties is the survival rate of lactic acid bacteria.

In conclusion, the spray drying method offers a convenient and amenable process for
commercially manufacturing fermented milk powders that are low in cost, easy to store, handle,
transport, and use. Powders that are available all year can be used in a variety of food preparations such
as instant beverages and functional foods. Further research will be focused on standardizing spray
drying conditions for specific fermented milk products in order to retain their original nutritive,
probiotic, and sensorial characteristics for commercial utility of spray drying technology.