Physicochemical and Morphological Analysis of Millet Yoghurt Powder: Characterization and Quality Evaluation

Aim: To fulfil the growing demand for alternatives to animal-derived products, novel plant-based (PB) foods and beverages have been developed and made available to the market in recent years. People who eat too much cholesterol, have lactose intolerance or malabsorption problems, or are allergic to milk proteins demand for alternative options. Therefore this study utilizes millet milk to develop yoghurt powder and the physicochemical and morphological structures of the developed yoghurt powder was evaluated.

Study Design: The present study was conducted in three phases –

Millet milk extraction
Inoculation of starter culture
Dehydration
Place and Duration of the Study: The present study was conducted in the Department of Food & Nutrition of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University Lucknow. The duration of the study is 5 months i.e. from January - May, 2023.

Methodology: The developed millet yoghurt was dehydrated to form yoghurt powder. In the present study, we have analysed various physicochemical properties such as total protein, total fat, pH etc. The methods used were according to AOAC methods. Morphological analysis was conducted using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the elemental composition was studied by analysing the Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) graphs.