Elaboración de una bebida simbiótica de lactosuero con diferentes niveles de pulpa de banano (Musa paradisiaca) y enriquecida con tres tipos de fibras solubles

Abstract

This research aimed to develop a symbiotic whey beverage incorporating several levels of banana pulp (Musa paradisiaca) enriched with three types of soluble fibers. A completely randomized design was applied under a bifactorial 3*3 experimental model (Factor A: Three levels of banana pulp; Factor B: Three types of soluble fibers with a fixed level of 0.5%), resulting in 9 treatments with three replications each. The beverage preparation process followed the proposed formulations, and its physicochemical, microbiological, sensory, and economic characteristics were evaluated. For the analysis of physicochemical and microbiological test data, the statistical software "Info Stat" was employed, using Tukey's mean separation test (p < 0.05). The sensory analysis included the Kruskal-Walli’s test for data collected from the 5-point hedonic scale test involving 30 untrained panelists. The Benefit/Cost indicator was necessary to assess the product profitability. Findings reported that an increment in the banana pulp level resulted in an increment in pH, protein, soluble solids, and probiotic bacteria, and the acidity decreased. Additionally, findings reported non-probiotic bacteria absence. In conclusion, the 9% banana pulp treatment with psyllium fiber (A3B3) showed the best physicochemical, microbiological, and organoleptic characteristics. This result was attributed to the interaction effects between pulp levels and fiber types, reporting a pH of 3.43, acidity of 0.30%, protein content of 3.72%, soluble solids of 9 °Brix, and 0.5% psyllium fiber. Furthermore, it contained 4.39 x 106 CFU/ml of probiotic bacteria, meeting the standard requirements (INEN 2395, 2011), and achieved the highest acceptance with a rating of 4 points.