Influence of multiple parameters on the crystallinity of dairy powders

Caking in powdered foods causes practical difficulties in solubilising the powder and interrupts the free flow from the container during manufacture and final use. This research investigated the caking tendency of cheese and milk powders stored at different relative humidity environment by low field, time domain 1H NMR, Magic Sandwich Echo sequence. The caking tendency of cheese powders was higher than milk powders. On the other hand, surface fat content of whole fat milk powder had an abrupt change due to lactose crystallisation at 60% relative humidity, which corresponded to a critical moisture content of 10%. As an overall conclusion, the lactose content was more dominant than fat content to trigger caking. However, it was inferred that the effect of the salt amount, which differed due to the nature of the samples, was more significant for caking development in milk and cheese powders.(c) 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.