Physicochemical properties of spray dried camel milk powder: a comparative study with cow milk powder

Camel milk is widely consumed in arid regions for its nutritional and therapeutic properties. However, rare studies were conducted to understand its behavior during spray drying process. In this context, a comparative study of the properties of spray dried cow and camel milk powders was performed following the central composite face-centered experimental design to interpret the effect of milk fat content (MFC: 1, 14, 27 g/l) and the air outlet drying temperature (ΔT: 0, 12, 24 °C). Our findings showed that increasing the ΔT leads to a significant increase of glass transition temperature (Tg) and a decreases of the water activity (aw) and the powder density of both milk powders. No significant impact of both studied factors on whey protein nitrogen index of both milk powders. Finally, our results highlighted that increasing both factors leads to an underexposure of free fat at the surface of camel milk powder particle