A Taguchi Approach Applied to Spray Drying of Araticum Juice Using Whey Protein-Maltodextrin Mixtures and Assessment of in Vitro Gastrointestinal Release and Bioaccessibility.

Spray drying is widely employed to produce stable fruit powders and may facilitate the utilization of highly perishable raw materials rich in bioactive compounds. However, processing conditions, carrier selection, and feed preparation are critical factors governing powder quality, bioactive compound stability, and gastrointestinal release. This study evaluated the spray drying of araticum (Annona crassiflora), a native fruit of the Brazilian Cerrado, using maltodextrin and whey protein concentrate (WPC) as carrier materials. A Taguchi L9 design was applied to assess inlet air temperature (100, 125, and 150°C), maltodextrin concentration (15%, 30%, and 45%) and WPC concentration (0.5%, 5%, and 10%), while mechanical mixing or probe ultrasonication was included as a noise factor. The powders were characterized for technological properties, color, bioactive compound contents, antioxidant responses, in vitro gastrointestinal release, and bioaccessibility. All powders exhibited low moisture content (3.99% to 6.87%) and water activity (0.160 to 0.214), and high solubility (71.52%-82.18%). T5, produced at 125°C with 30% maltodextrin, and 10% WPC, exhibited the highest powder recovery (30.75%), total phenolic content (1925.94 mg GAE/100 g), total carotenoid content (64.78 mg/100 g) and ascorbic acid content (7.09 g/100 g). The highest ABTS radical scavenging activity was observed for T3 (96.16%). Following in vitro digestion, T5 exhibited high bioaccessibility of total phenolic compounds (95.65%), the ABTS response (88.55%) and ascorbic acid (95.98%). These findings indicate that combining Taguchi-based process evaluation, robustness to feed preparation, and maltodextrin-WPC carriers is an effective strategy for producing araticum juice powders with technological stability and potential application as functional food ingredients.