Solid beverages are products made of food ingredients, food additives, etc. processed into solid materials such as powder, granules or blocks for brewing and drinking. If juice powder, soybean powder, tea powder, coffee powder, fruit-flavored solid drinks, solid soda (effervescent tablets), ginger juice powder. Solid beverages are relative to the physical state of beverages. It is a special variety of beverage. It has the characteristics of small volume, good instant solubility and good preservation.

Commonly used raw and auxiliary materials

Fruit juice: Fruit juice is the main raw material of fruit juice-based solid drinks.

Maltodextrin: Maltodextrin can be used to improve the viscosity of the beverage and reduce the sweetness of the beverage, and also has the role of a clouding agent. It is used with pigments and flavors in appropriate proportions to make the transparency of the product disappear and the appearance gives a real sense of fresh fruit juice.

Sweetener: Sweetener (including sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, etc.) is one of the main raw materials of fruit-flavored secondary ingredients and is the main source of sweetness for such products.

Dairy products: including sweetened condensed milk, milk powder, cream, etc., are the main raw materials of protein-based solid drinks.

Egg yolk powder: made of fresh egg yolk or mixed with iced egg yolk, made by spray drying, it is yellow powder with normal odor, no bitterness and other odors, and good solubility.

Cocoa powder: made from fresh cocoa beans after fermentation and drying, processed by frying, shelling, oil extraction and drying, dark brown in color, with natural cocoa fragrance, used for the production of cocoa-based cream of wheat.

Baking soda: It is used to neutralize the acidity brought by raw materials in the production of protein-based solid drinks to avoid the precipitation and floating of protein by the action of acid.

Vitamins: Used as nutritional fortificants to produce fortified whey extracts, often using vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin B1.

Other food additives: including flavors, colors, acidity regulators, sweeteners, etc.

Production Process

Key control links

Quality control of raw and auxiliary materials, packaging materials; hygiene management control of production workshop, especially cooling and packaging workshop; cleaning and disinfection of equipment; dosing and measuring; control of dewatering and packaging process; hygiene management of operators.

Prone to quality and safety problems

Inadequate management control of equipment, environment, raw and auxiliary materials, packaging materials, dewatering and drying, cooling and packaging, personnel and other links are easy to make the product moisture, hygiene indicators and other unqualified; ingredient control and other links are easy to cause the use of food additives beyond the scope and in excess.

Product common problems

(1) Taste change and color change

Taste changes in solid beverage products are mainly caused by oxidation. For example, the oxidation of fat in the product makes the product have a fat oxidation taste.

Preventive measures：

1、Strictly control the process parameters, especially the sterilization temperature and holding time, which must make the activity of lipolytic enzyme and peroxidase lose.

2, strict control of the moisture content of the product.

3, to ensure the sealing of the product packaging.

4、Storage the product in a cool and dry environment.

(2) Impurities

The phenomenon of high impurity in solid beverage products occurs due to the following reasons.

1、Incomplete purification of raw materials.

2, the production process by secondary pollution.

3、The hot air temperature of the drying room is too high, resulting in scorched powder around the air cylinder.

4、Improper adjustment of hot air in the sub-airbox, resulting in vortex flow, which makes the milk powder locally overheated and produces scorched powder.

(3) Poor quick solubility

Solid beverage products with poor quick solubility, the following measures can be taken.

1, the product particles will be sprayed lecithin.

2、Appropriately increase the diameter of the particles, and try to make the product particles of uniform diameter.

(4) Caking

After the package of solid beverage is opened, the contents are easily caked. This is due to the fact that the general water content of solid drinks is relatively low and will absorb water when the humidity of the external environment is slightly high.

At a certain temperature, the relative humidity of various food materials and the external environment have a moisture content at equilibrium. When it is lower than this moisture content, it will absorb moisture and lead to caking.

Therefore, from production to packaging, transportation and storage, solid beverage should pay attention to prevent moisture absorption.

Generally, the relative humidity in the packaging room should be controlled below 45%; materials with good air resistance or composite materials should be chosen to make the packaging; when using acid in the ingredients, anhydrous citric acid or tartaric acid should be chosen.