Spray-dried low lactose milk powder.

Background:

According to the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), nearly 65% of the global population is prone to lactose intolerance, which is why many people avoid dairy products. The market of low-lactose products is projected to reach USD 24.36 billion by 2031. This increase is on demand of consumers due to important nutritional value of dairy products. In India lactose free UHT milk is available in limited market at high cost. As most of the consumers of these products are need-based and high cost is a major hurdle in its consumption on regular basis. Milk powder is one of the dairy products that has a long shelf life and also ensures lower storage and transportation costs. As a result, converting low lactose milk into powder using spray dryer will be a cost-effective commercially viable approach. However, preparation of lactose hydrolysed milk powder through spray drying is still a challenge. During drying and storage of milk powder, the extent of maillard browning is high in presence of monosaccharides (glucose and galactose) as compared to disaccharide (lactose). The maillard browning also has significant effects on flavour, functional properties and nutritive value

Technology Details:

Enzymatic hydrolysis of lactose yields equal concentration of monosaccharides i.e. glucose and galactose. In the dual enzyme approach using glucose oxidase along with β galactosidase, may result in reduction of the extent of maillard reaction by making glucose unavailable for the reaction. Therefore, production of lactose hydrolyzed milk powder with dual enzyme hydrolysis approach along with optimization of spray drying conditions would be a novel approach. Thus, controlling the process and storage conditions will minimize the maillard reaction in the powder