Pasteurized ready-to-feed (RTF) infant formula fortified with lactoferrin: a potential niche product

Abstract

Ready-to-feed (RTF) Infant Milk Formula (IMF) is currently processed as UHT-sterilized to ensure safety, however, it incurs a significant loss of nutrients due to its high processing temperature (135 °C and above). Therefore, to retain heat-sensitive bioactives, pasteurized RTF liquid IMF could be a pragmatic approach as a new product development which would improve the quality of IMF. In this study, the effect of thermal (63–90 °C) and High Pressure Processing (HPP) of 300–600 MPa at 23 °C on denaturation of native bovine lactoferrin (LF) in reconstituted IMF was studied. Retention of LF was 94.6 and 91.9% at high temperature short time (HTST) conditions of 70.8 °C for 42 and 71 °C for 57 s, respectively, whereas HPP treatments retained only 66–83% LF. Furthermore, LF remarkably maintained its iron binding capacity and storage stability after HTST pasteurization, which together, confirm the possible application of conventional HTST pasteurization to treat LF-added RTF liquid IMF.