Impact of carrier agents on physicochemical characteristics and bioactive compound retention in spray-dried mixed berry juice powder

Berries, rich in phytochemicals, have always been acknowledged for their powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits. “Blueberries, hailed as “superfruits,” and raspberries, linked to blood sugar control and cancer prevention, stand out for their nutrient-packed profiles. Spray drying preserves these fruits’ nutrients, producing powders that extend shelf life, ease transport, and retain their health-boosting properties. The challenges of this study were optimizing the spray drying parameters to balance nutrient retention with powder physical stability, as the natural sugars and acids in berry juice can cause stickiness and low glass transition temperatures leading to powder agglomeration and poor flowability. By selecting appropriate carrier agents and their combinations to overcome these processing difficulties and maintain the bioactive compounds posed another critical challenge. Investigation aims to standardize the spray drying procedure for mixed berry juice by examining how various carrier agents influence the physical, functional, and reconstitution features of the resultant powder. Specifically, the current study seeks to obtain the effect of varying carrier types, maltodextrin, gum arabic, whey protein concentrates, and a combination of maltodextrin and gum arabic on the physical properties, reconstitution capabilities, functional attributes, and color of spray-dried mixed berry juice powder. Physical characteristics in the formed powders included moisture content (ranging from 2.26% to 4.61% w.b.), bulk density (0.28 to 0.31 g/ml), and tapped density (0.40 to 0.53 g/ml). Powder yield varied from 59.64% to 74.49%. Reconstitution characteristics such as wettability, hygroscopicity, solubility, and dispersibility were recorded in the range of 93.5 to 215.53 seconds, 15.88 to 25.61 g/100g, 70.30% to 95.10% and 73.71% to 95.32%, respectively. Functional characteristics, such as total anthocyanin and total phenolic content, were measured between 175.69 and 239.66 mg/100g and 206.55 to 270.85 g GAE/100g, respectively. Color values indicated by L*, a*, and b* values, noted from 69.164 to 75.94, 5.509 to 17.138, and -0.87 to -2.981, respectively. In addition to maltodextrin and gum arabic has, it shown effectiveness in creating mixed berry juice powder and obtained desirable physical, functional, reconstitution and color characteristics.