In-situ lecithination of dairy powders in spray-drying for confectionery applications

Powders are essential ingredients of chocolate. In particular for milk chocolate milk and whey powders are important, together with sucrose, lactose and cocoa solids. During processing to maintain a good flow of the molten chocolate mass, particles with hydrophilic surfaces, such as dairy powders and sugars, are coated with a surface-active compound. Only lecithin and polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR) (at a limited level) are allowed in chocolate, and as these are expensive as little as possible is added, whilst maintaining rheological properties. Conventionally, lecithin is added during conching, and through the intense kneading of the chocolate mass it is distributed throughout the mass. Usually about 0.5% is added, although the level depends upon the composition of the chocolate. Here we present a new approach to lecithination of spray-dried milk and lactose powders, which we call in-situ lecithination. It has been found that the surface of a spray-dried powder is dominated by any surface-active species, and in a competitive situation, the most rapidly adsorbing species dominates. This behaviour is utilised when lecithin is added to the spray-dryer feed, and through the competitive adsorption of surface-active agents during the drying process, it dominates the powder surface composition as measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). This is also seen in differences in sedimentation rate when the powders are mixed with cocoa butter to assess the rheological properties of the powder dispersions. The effect was large for lactose powders, but smaller for skim milk powder and whey powder.