OPTIMIZATION OF CRITICAL PARAMETERS OF

FREEZE-DRIED YOGHURT
Mohd Zaki Asfanuddina, Shazlianab, Gek Cheng Ngohc, Adeline Chuad
Chemical Engineering Department
University of Malaya
50603 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia

E-mail: azaki_asfanuddin@yahoo.com.my,
b
sazzy_8@siswa.um.edu.my
c
ngoh@um.edu.my
d
adeline@um.edu.my

ABSTRACT

The study focuses on the investigation of the effects of yoghurt composition, storage
temperature and storage time on the physical properties of freeze dried yoghurt. Analyses
for vitamin C, pH and cell counts of different storage duration and storage temperature
were conducted. The Central Composite Design (CCD) of RSM with five levels of
independent variables was employed. For the optimization of the parameter in this study,
analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that a second-order equation model is fitted to
predict the experimental data. pH are found to decrease with decrease storage time. Viable
cell counts tend to decrease as yoghurt composition decreases and as in storage
temperature increases. Meanwhile nutritional values tend decrease when storage time is
reduced. The optimum parameters obtained are 5oC and 10% v/v of yoghurt composition.
The yoghurt was freeze drying followed by subsequent dehydration was able to extent its
shelf life to 25 days while preserving its cell viability at these optimum conditions. The
stability and viability of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) can be prolong in freeze dried yoghurt.

Keywords: Optimization, RSM, CCD, Freeze drying, probiotic, yoghurt

1 INTRODUCTION

Yoghurt is a well-known fermented milk product which has gained great popularity
throughout the world for its recognized health-promoting properties. The yoghurt bacterial
cultures, such as Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus are important
to maintain the viability and activity for survival throughout shelf life of yoghurt. Other
than its nutritional value, yoghurt also has antagonistic and therapeutic value. Therefore,
yoghurt bacterial cultures have an antagonistic action on desirable microorganisms in the
intestine (Kumar and Mishra, 2004)
However, the unfavourable attributes associate with yoghurt, such as it occupies
large capacity and difficult to be transported at low cost, the microorganism present in it is
less stable in fluid formed than dried product and required careful consideration. Besides
that, the shelf life of yoghurt in its normal form is short and required refrigeration and it
depends on the physical, chemical, microbiological or sensory characteristics of the
yoghurt (Ganesh, 2006). The solution to the mentioned problems can be solved by
lyophilization (freeze drying process) of yoghurt.
Freeze drying involves dehydration or sublimation process of changing solid to gas
phase and the process is typically used to make the material more convenient for
transportation system. This process is an elective choice for space foods, as it allows
nutritional and sensorial qualities to be retained, together with extreme reduction in weigh,
high solubility, long shelf life at moderate temperature and the possibility to perform
rehydration at any desired level (Venir et al., 2006).
For maintaining the viability for survival activity throughout shelf life, yoghurt is
influenced by factors such as yoghurt composition, storage temperature and storage time
of freeze dried yoghurt. In view of these, optimization of processes parameters with
Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is very important to obtain the optimum
conditions. To enhance the quality of yoghurt, the RSM used would estimate interaction
and even quadratic effects of the parameters to improve and to optimize the conditions of
variables in order to determine the best value of responses troubleshoot weak points and
make a process less sensitive to the influences. The mathematical and statistical procedure

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would be used to study relationships between the dependent variables i.e. pH, cell count
and nutritional values and independent variables i.e. yoghurt composition, storage
temperature and storage time of freeze dried yoghurt as suggested by Unal et al,. 2003.
Moreover, Central Composite Design (CCD), the approach of RSM, is used to determine
the effect of variables on plain yoghurt samples by reduced equation. In this study CCD
was employed to design experiment as it would provide information.
The aimed of this research was to optimize the storage parameters of freeze dried
yoghurt to maintain as well as enhances the stability and viability of probiotic and
nutritional value of freeze dried yoghurt by using the statistical tool.

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1 PREPARATION OF FREEZE DRIED YOGHURT SAMPLES

Plain yoghurt was prepared by adding yoghurt (1 – 20%v/v) with specific milk
composition before incubated at 37oC for 6-8 hours. After that, yoghurts were prepared in
6 mL bottles before frozen in refrigerator at desired conditions. Then, yoghurt samples
were freeze dried in a freeze dryer (EYELA FDU-1100) for 48 hours. After the freeze
drying process, the samples then were stored by refer the parameters under investigated.

2.2 ANALYTICAL METHODS

pH of the yoghurt samples were determined using a Digital pH meter (Metrohm
Swiss Made, 827 pH lab). To enumerate the probiotic, 1 mL of yoghurt sample was
diluted with 9 mL of 0.15% peptone water and mixed uniformly with a stirrer. Subsequent
serial dilutions were prepared and viable numbers enumerated using pour plate technique.
The counts of S.thermophilus were enumerated on M17 agar by incubating the plates at
27oC for 24 hours. MRS agar was incubated at 37 oC for 48 hours for the differential
enumeration of L.bulgaricus. (Camaschella et al., 1998). All experiments and analyses
were replicated three times and results presented are averages of the six replicates.
For determination of vitamin C, estimated 0.05 g standard crystalline ascorbic acid
was dissolved in 100 mL of distilled water for preparing a 500 ppm standard stock
solution. The λ max of the coloured complex (593 nm) using UV-vis-spectrophotometer,
the absorbance of the all standards were taken to construct a calibration curve (Khan et al.,
2006). A calibration curve was constructed as shown in Figure 1.

FIGURE 1: Calibration curve of standard vitamin C at 593 nm

The samples of 500 mg were extracted with 5 mL of chilled 2 g/100 mL meta-

phosphoric acid solution in micro-test tube. The extracting solution was then chilled to
minimize the oxidation of L-ascorbic acid. The solution was shaken gently until a
homogeneous dispersion was obtained. Then the samples were centrifuged at 14,000g, on
a micro-centrifuge for clarification. An aliquot of 0.3 mL of sample was diluted to 3 mL
using the chilled 2 g/100 mL meta-phosphoric acid solution in a test tube (Maforimbo et
al., 2007). The absorbance of this solution was read at 593 nm using a UV-vis-
spectrophotometer (SECOMAM Prim 3391).

2.3 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

Statistical analyses were conducted using Central Composite design (CCD) of

Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The responses surface was obtained from the
final model permitting the variation (–α, -1, 0, 1, +α) of three independent variables
keeping the other independent variables constant at 0 level (Table 1).

TABLE 1: Level of independent variables used in Central Composite design

Independent variables Symbol Levels
Coded –α –1 0 +1 +α
Storage time (day) x1 1 7 14 21 35
Storage temperature (oC) x2 –14 –4 4 25 50
Yoghurt composition (%v/v) x3 1 6 9 12 20

Table for analysis of variance was generated and the regression coefficients of
individual linear, quadratic and interaction terms were also determined. P-values were
used to check the significant of each coefficient in which it indicate the pattern of

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interaction between the variables. The smaller was the value of P, the more significant the
corresponding coefficient. (Y.sun et. al., 2010)
The regression coefficient was then used to perform statistical calculation to obtain
iso-response contour plot by using DOE++ Reliasoft Version 1.0.6. Predictive polynomial
quadratic equation and RSM were used to describe the individual and interactive effects
of the three variables at five levels, combined according to Central Composite design. The
predictive polynomial quadratic equation was expressed in Eq. 1.
Y= βo+β1x1+β2x2+β3x3+β12x1x2+β13x1x3+β23x2x3+β11x12+β22x22+β33x32,
(Eq. 1)

where, Y is a response as a function of the factors x1, x2 andx3, βo is a sum of constant,

the interactive terms, x1x2, x1x3, and x2x3 are interaction effects and quadratic terms,
x12, x22 and x32 are second order effects.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1 EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSES

Table 2 shows the experimental conditions and the results (response) in terms of
corresponding pH, cell count and vitamin C. The pH of yoghurt varies between 4.37 and
4.48. As reported by Rasic et al., 1978 that the pH decrease to less than 4.2 would result
in whey separation and it would affect the LAB viability due to more hydrogen ions than
ions of lactate. In the table, the pH value was greater than 4.2 would suitable pH for plain
yoghurt condition.
The viable counts of probiotic cell in yoghurt were presented in the table. The
cell counts are between 2.60 x 108 and 10.10 x 108 cfu/mL. Meanwhile Vitamin C varied
between 5 mg/L to 90 mg/L. This could be due to the fact that plain yoghurt consists of
probiotic and it is essential to maintain its viability and survival activity throughout the
shelf life. The presence of vitamin C in yoghurt can be act as antioxidant function and
thus enhance its nutritional value.

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 TABLE 2: Experimental Central Composite Design (CCD) runs and responses
Run x1 x2 x3 Y1 Y2 ( 108) Y3
1 7 -4 6 4.37 7.10 5
2 21 -4 6 4.44 3.20 125
3 7 25 6 4.38 3.40 20
4 21 25 6 4.44 4.40 20
5 7 -4 12 4.41 5.70 30
6 21 -4 12 4.48 4.30 45
7 7 25 12 4.40 3.50 30
8 21 25 12 4.47 3.70 95
9 1 4 9 4.41 8.00 90
10 35 4 9 4.48 6.80 155
11 14 -20 9 4.45 7.50 25
12 14 50 9 4.47 3.70 0
13 14 4 1 4.43 2.60 40
14 14 4 20 4.37 10.10 35
15 14 4 9 4.46 7.40 50
16 14 4 9 4.46 8.50 40
17 14 4 9 4.46 7.60 35
18 14 4 9 4.46 8.20 45
19 14 4 9 4.46 8.20 45
20 14 4 9 4.46 8.60 70

3.2 STATISTICAL ANALYSES

The relationship between the three variables (storage time, storage temperature
and yoghurt composition) and the three responses (pH, cell count and vitamin C) for
freeze drying process of plain yoghurt were analyzed using Response Surface
Methodology (RSM). The development of mathematical equations where predicted
results (Y) were assessed as a function of storage time (X1), storage temperature (X2) and
yoghurt composition (X3) using CCD are presented in Table 3.

The results obtained were further subject to Analysis of variance (ANOVA) to

assess the best fit. Table 3 shows the regression coefficient for pH, cell count and vitamin
C. The small P-values (P< 0.05) were significant while P-values greater than 0.05 were
not significant. The significant of P-value for pH, cell count and vitamin C were X1 and
X32 factors, X22 and X32 factors and X1, X2X3, X12 and X22 factors respectively.

TABLE 3: Regression Coefficients for Dependent Variables

Factors pH Cell Counts Vitamin C
Coefficient P Value Coefficient(х107) P Value Coefficient P Value
Intercept 4.4603 0.0000 81.50 7.11 x 10-7 47.88 0.0004
X1 : Storage time 0.0284 0.0008 -4.48 0.3871 22.64 0.0039
X2 : Storage Temperature 0.0017 0.7784 -8.56 0.1147 -6.00 0.3449
X3 : Composition 0.0021 0.7293 8.58 0.1141 1.58 0.7995
X1 X2 -0.0013 0.8762 8.13 0.2379 -8.75 0.2950
X1 X3 0.0012 0.8762 2.13 0.7494 -5.00 0.5419
X2 X3 -0.0038 0.6419 -0.38 0.9549 17.50 0.0516
X1 X1 -0.0074 0.2353 -6.51 0.2070 24.01 0.0022
X2 X2 -0.0021 0.7317 -12.90 0.0235 -14.81 0.0303
X3 X3 -0.0233 0.0025 -10.20 0.0601 -6.03 0.3303

Table 4 illustrates probability of lack of fit (PLOF), standard deviation, and

predicted residual error sum of square (PRESS) that used to justify the validity of CCD
model. When PLOF is greater than 0.05 (PLOF>0.05) the model was significant, which
implies that the significate in the model correlation between the variables and responses.
(S. Ghafari et al.). The predictive equations for all responses were determined from
regression analysis

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 TABLE 4: ANOVA Table and Significant effect on Responses
pH Cell count Vitamin C
Significant Effect i. Storage i. Yoghurt Composition i. Storage Time
Time ii. Storage Temperature

P values 5.09 x 10-5 0.0465 0.0036

PLOF 2.23 x 10-6 27.6848 5.8069
SD 0.0192 1.83 x 108 22.3968
PRESS 0.0187 2.49 x 1018 3.92 x 104
* PLOF = Probability of Lack of Fit, SD = Standard Deviation, PRESS = Predicted Residual Error Sum of
Square

and the parameter coefficients that were insignificant were eliminated from the equations.
The predictive equations for pH, viable cell and vitamin C was expressed in Eq. 2, Eq. 3
and Eq. 4 respectively:-
Y1=4.453+0.0284 X1-0.0224 X32 (Eq. 2)
Y2=8.15 ×108-1.29×108X22-1.02×108X32 (Eq. 3)
Y3= 47.88 + 22.65 X1 + 17.5 X2X3 + 24.01 X12 – 14.88 X32 (Eq. 4)

The model derived from Eq. (2-4) was made three dimensional and contour plot to
predict the relationships between the independent and dependent variables. The response
surface plots for pH, cell count and vitamin C are shown in Figure (1-3) respectively. The
plots are symmetrical in shape with circular contours. All responses plots show clear
peaks, demonstrated that the optimum condition for maximum values of the responses are
attributed to pH, cell count and vitamin C in the design range. Response surface plots in
Figure 1 shows the predicted pH value at 4.45, Figure 2 indicates the predicted points to
be at around 7.955 x 108 cfu/mL of probiotic whereas Figure 3 indicates the predicted
152.90 mg/L of vitamin C for optimum storage time of 25 days, storage temperature of
5oC and yoghurt composition of 10 v/v%. Likewise, Figure 1 demonstrates that the
optimum points of pH values are be reduced when moves away from these peak points
either reduction in storage time on yoghurt composition would signify the changes in any
tested variables with decline in the responses. (S. Ghafari et al.).
The predicted value versus the actual values plots of parameters are presented in
Figure 4. These plots show an agreement of greater than 66%, 75% and 80% for pH, cell
count and vitamin C respectively.

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(a) (b) (c)
FIGURE 1: The Significance Effect of Independent Variables on pH for Yoghurt.

6
(a) (b) (c)
FIGURE 2: The Significance Effect of Independent Variables on Cell Count of Yoghurt.

7
(a) (b) (c)
FIGURE 3: The Significance Effect of Independent Variables on Vitamin C for Yoghurt.

8
9
R2 = 0.758

(a)

R2 = 0.667

(b)

10
 R2 = 0.828

(c)
FIGURE 4: the graph of Predicted Versus Actual Value for (a) pH (b) cell count and (c)
Vitamin C

4 CONCLUSION

The experiment finding indicate that the shelf life of yoghurt can be extended to 25
days at temperature of 5oC and yoghurt composition of 10%v/v. Yoghurt which employed
freeze drying followed by subsequent dehydration was able to increase its shelf life while
preserving its cell viability and stability at these optimum condition. Then the statistical
analysis, the respective reduced equation for pH, cell count and vitamin C are
Y1=4.453+0.0284 X1-0.0224 X32, Y2 = 8.15 х 108 – 1.29 х 108 X22 – 1.02 х 108 X32 , Y3 = 47.88
+ 22.65 X1 + 17.5 X2X3 + 24.01 X12 – 14.88 X32. From experiment, the predicted values are
significant accordingly well.

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