Comportamento de produtos lácteos protéicos em diferentes condições simuladas de processamento térmico

Abstract

Milk protein products (MPPs) are routinely used by the industry, aiming to provide improved texture, yield and palatability for processed food. Understanding the viscosity evolution behavior of protein solutions used as food ingredients in the food matrix is of fundamental importance to the industry, because this property may influence the attributes of processed products. The objective of this study was to evaluate the viscosity evolution behavior of the MPPS solutions in different concentrations, when used in different conditions of thermal processing by means of Rapid Visco Analyzer (RVA) as a process simulator. Commercial samples of skimmed milk powder (SMP), whey protein concentrate (WPC), milk protein concentrate (MPC), whey powder (WP) and demineralized whey powder (DWP) were analyzed. The solid-liquid ratio solutions evaluated were 0.1 g.g-1 to 0.45 g.g-1 of dry solids in water for the MPC, 0.1 g.g-1 to 0.4 g.g-1 of dry solids in water for the WPC and 0.5 g.g-1 to 0.8 g.g-1 of dry solids in water for SMP, WP and DWP because of the sensibility of the system to the solid concentration process itself. The Brazilian industrial heat treatment set ups were used, with temperatures ranging from 65°C to 95°C and retention time from 5 minutes to 30 minute s. Thus, the results were interpreted according to the viscosities during heating and cooling. It was possible to optimize the different conditions of parameters of the MPPs with the interpretations of the viscographic profiles obtained in respect to the thermal behavior of proteins, especially for the SMP, MPC and WPC. The data showed similarity in viscographic characteristics of the solutions when evaluated at 65°C for 30 minutes at concentrations 0.29 g.g-1, 0.34 g.g-1 and 0.24 g.g-1 of protein in water respectively, 0.29 g.g-1, 0.26 g.g-1 and 0.16 g.g-1 of protein in water to these MPPs at 85°C for15 minutes and 95°C for 5 minutes, and also 0,30 g.g -1 and 0,24 g.g-1 of protein in water respectively for the MPC and WPC in the same condition of 95°C for 5 minutes. The RVA can indeed be considered an emerging analytical tool for the study and knowledge of PDI that can help to optimize the choice for the technological application in the food industry, through analysis of viscosity to estimate the rate of protein denaturation.