This work aims to produce a virgin coconut oil (VCO) creamer through two drying stages; spray drying followed by fluidised bed drying, and to examine its antioxidant properties and oxidative stability during different storage conditions. Evaluation of the physicochemical properties of spray dry VCO and oxidative stability of the VCO creamer were performed using peroxide value (PV), antioxidant activity (DPPH), and total phenolic content (TPC) at 25, 4, and 25 °C, respectively, for 8 weeks. Agglomeration process has improved the agglomerated VCO creamer's properties in terms of moisture content (4.34%), solubility (85.2%), water activity (0.32%), and bulk density (0.36 g/cm3). The morphology of agglomerated VCO creamer showed cluster and irregular shapes with enlargement in the particle size, (d32) 395 µm and (d43) 426 µm. The overall oxidative results showed stability for the agglomerated VCO creamer stored at 4 °C in terms of TPC, DPPH and PV over 8 weeks followed by creamer stored at 25 °C which had similar stability with slight differences. The creamer stored at 38 °C showed rapid degradation for all oxidation tests from week 2 onwards. Agglomeration technology has indicated to be effective in the stabilization of virgin coconut oil against lipid oxidation and prolonging its shelf-life.
Keywords: Agglomeration; Creamer; Fluidised bed drying; Microencapsulation; Spray drying; Virgin coconut oil.
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