Impact of pre-heating the aqueous phase of feed emulsion for spray drying on beany flavour and oxidation stability in model pea milk powder

Beany flavour and lipid oxidation hinder plant-based milk powder acceptance. Aqueous-phase pre-heating has the potential to mitigate these issues, but its effects on model pea milk powder remain insufficiently explored. This study indicates that pre-heating could reduce beany notes and enhance oxidative stability via protein structural changes and partial lipoxygenase (LOX) inactivation. Both 60 °C and 95 °C pre-heating for 15 min modified pea protein structures, with more pronounced effects at 95 °C. The higher temperature led to greater increases in β-turns and surface hydrophobicity, promoting disulphide-bonded aggregation. These structural changes could reduce protein affinity for beany components. Moreover, compared to 60 °C, the 95 °C treatment more effectively increased the emulsifying activity index (EAI) and more substantially reduced LOX activity by 50-58 %, mitigating lipid oxidation and oxidised beany compound formation. The pre-heating strategy is promising for the development of pea milk powder with improved flavour and storage stability.