Optimizing the Quality of Food Powder Products: The Challenges of Moisture-Mediated Phase Transformations

Abstract

Water is ubiquitous in the environment and is present to varying degrees even within dry powder products and most ingredients. Water migration between the environment and a solid, or between different components of a product, may lead to detrimental physical and chemical changes. In efforts to optimize the quality of dry products, as well as the efficiency of production practices, it is crucial to understand the cause–effect relationships of water interactions with different solids. Therefore, this review addresses the basis of moisture migration in dry products, and the modes of water vapor interactions with crystalline and amorphous solids (e.g., adsorption, capillary condensation, deliquescence, crystal hydrate formation, absorption into amorphous solids) and related moisture-induced phase and state changes, and provides examples of how these moisture-induced changes affect the quality of the dry products.

Effect of calcium hydroxide on pasting, thermal, and water‐adsorption behavior, and the flow properties of nixtamalized corn flour

“…In this regard, the moisture content in powders such as NCF may lead to detrimental physical and chemical changes. Water-adsorption isotherms are useful tools to express the equilibrium relationship between moisture content and the a w of the storage environment of a product (Mauer et al, 2019). Figures 1a-d employed during the nixtamalization process significantly affected NCF composition, these variations did not determine the amount of water adsorbed.…”

Shelf life estimation of glassy confections using moisture sorption isotherms

“…In some circumstances, shelf life prediction models of moisture‐sensitive food in packaging are based on the fact that, in a steady state, the transfer of mass from one region to another is proportional to the concentration gradient (Labuza, Mizrahi, & Karel, 1972; Mauer, Forny, Meunier, & Taylor, 2019). Thus, the shelf life of a moisture‐sensitive food product can be estimated using mathematical models that describe and connect the product's equilibrium sorption isotherm, the initial and critical moisture content, temperature and relative humidity of the storage environment, and permeability properties of the packaging (Chang, Karim, Sabo Mohammed, Chai, & Ghazali, 2019; Macedo et al, 2013).…”

Spray drying strategy for encapsulation of bioactive peptide powders for food applications

“…Generally, food peptides require spray drying to be converted into powder for further applications. High cost of production, poor solubility of purified peptides powders, and consumer acceptance are among some of the challenges for commercialization of foodderived bioactive peptides [1,8]. Thus, a systematic design of spray drying trials is needed to optimize the process parameters to preserve the desirable attributes of the peptide.…”