Regular consumption of hen eggs can help to prevent deficiencies of essential nutrients, such as vitamin A and E or trace elements zinc and selenium, for vulnerable populations. This study focuses on assessing the nutritional value of spray-dried egg, favored by its producibility, storability and ease of addition to (complementary) food. Using a wide range of analytical techniques, we recorded and compared the nutrient profiles of commercially produced pasteurized whole eggs and their respective powder samples spray-dried at 160 °C. Important nutrients that were not significantly affected by spray-drying include total fat content, several amino acids, α- + δ-tocopherol, lutein, zeaxanthin, essential trace elements and cobalamin. The most notable losses were observed for unsaturated fatty acids, particularly for linoleic (by 38.7%, from 4.11±0.45 to 2.52±0.75 g/100 g DM) and linolenic acid (by 60.8%, from 0.76±0.05 to 0.30±0.04 g/100 g DM). Despite recording significant retinol losses in two out of three batches, the overall low reduction of 14.0% recommend spray-dried eggs as a valuable source of vitamin A.  Intake of egg powder corresponding to one medium sized egg a day meets dietary reference values for children, e.g. by 100% for vitamin E, by 24% for retinol, by 61% for selenium and by 22% for zinc. Even though a dry weight comparison favors supplementation with pasteurized whole eggs, our results demonstrate a high potential for spray-dried eggs as nutritional supplement. However, the spray-drying process should be optimized towards higher retentions of unsaturated fatty acids and retinol.

Evaluating the quality of commercially spray-dried egg as nutritional supplement

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