Particle Size Distribution Measurement of Powdered Milk

Introduction

Powdered milk (infant formula) starts out with typical cow's milk as the raw material, and various types of ingredients are added and modified as necessary for use by infants. Of course, since the initial raw material is cow's milk, one of the principal ingredients is fat globules. these fat globules can to some degree affect their digestion and absorption in the body, this is one of the physical properties that must be evaluated in the quality control process. When the powdered milk is dissolved in hot water in preparation of the milk formula, these fat globules float freely in the hot water, forming a so-called oil/water emulsion. The particle distribution of these fat globules can be measured using the laser diffraction and scattering technique. Since it is believed that the particle distribution of these fat globules can to some degree affect their digestion and absorption in the body, this is one of the physical properties that must be evaluated in the quality control process. In this report, we introduce this measurement for 2 different kinds of powdered milk using the Shimadzu SALD-7101 Nano Particle Size Analyzer. In addition, we conducted testing to determine whether or not the fat globule particle size distribution was affected due to the hot water temperature used during preparation of the infant milk formula. These results also are presented.

November 28, 2011 GMT