Dry‐pasteurization of egg albumen powder in a fluidized bed. I. Effect on microbiology, physical and chemical parameters

Summary Present pasteurization methods of dried egg albumen powder require large storage facilities and take a long time. The use of a fluidized bed system for dry pasterurization of egg albumen was studied as an alternative approach. In Experiment 1 two different temperature treatments were investigated (90 °C and 130 °C); whilst in Experiment 2 the effect of high vs. low air moisture was studied at a fixed temperature of 115 °C. Both experiments had process times of between 10 min and 3 h. The Reference method was traditional pasteurization at 90 °C for 21 h. Samples were analysed for microbiological, chemical and physical properties. High temperature or high air moisture treatments ensured greater bacterial elimination, formation of covalently bound protein polymers and increased surface hydrophobicity. The nature of polymer bonds is suggested to be Schiff's bases, which increase correspondingly. The powder colour became darker and more yellow at high temperature for 3 h and particle size increased.