Production and characterization of encapsulated colostrum powder

The interest in colostrum is increasing day by day and it attack attention as a functional food. In this study, bovine colostrum was dried using spray drying and freeze drying, and powdered colostrum obtained by freeze drying was encapsulated in a fluidized bed. The effects of different drying processes and encapsulation processes on the immunoglobulin content and powder properties of colostrum were investigated. The immunoglobulin content of powder colostrum samples obtained by freeze drying was better preserved than spray drying. The small particle size and high moisture content of the spray-dried samples caused high cohesiveness and low wettability and solubility properties. On the other hand, the bulk densities, flowability, wettability, solubility properties and particle size of the freeze-dried samples were significantly (p<0.05) higher compared to spray drying, and the color properties were better preserved. The porosity value of the freeze dried sample was significantly (p<0.05) lower compared to spray drying. When freeze-dried powder colostrum samples were encapsulated using fluidized bed, moisture content, water activity and particle size increased significantly. The loose bulk density decreased significantly (p<0.05), and tapped bulk density and particle density values didn't statistically change (p>0.05). The fluidity of colostrum powder has improved with encapsulation, however, the encapsulated powder colostrum samples are in the class of powders with poor fluidity. The wettability and solubility properties of freeze-dried samples were statistically significantly improved (p<0.05). It was observed that the encapsulation process didn't have a significant effect on the color values of powder colostrum samples (p>0.05). This results show that, colostrum powders with better powder properties and higher immunoglobulin content were obtained by freeze drying rather than spray drying. The encapsulation process significantly improved the powder properties, but was not sufficient to obtain instant powder colostrum.