Economic feasibility of freeze-drying to obtain powdered fruit

[EN] Fruit is a highly valuable food whose consumption should be encouraged. In addition, it would be desirable to design processes and products to channel the surplus and take advantage of the post-harvest losses that limit its fresh marketing. Freeze-drying is a known industrial process that permits the obtaining of high quality products, despite having always been labeled as very expensive. In this study, the economic feasibility of freeze-drying to obtain powdered fruit has been proven, as it yields a product more than twice as cheap as when obtained by spray-drying, recognized for its low cost. The authors thank the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad for the financial support given through the Project AGL 2012-39103. Camacho Vidal, MM.; Casanova, MÁ.; Fenollosa Ribera, ML.; Ribal Sanchis, FJ.; Martínez-Lahuerta, JJ.; Martínez Navarrete, N. (2018). Economic feasibility of freeze-drying to obtain powdered fruit. En IDS 2018. 21st International Drying Symposium Proceedings. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 827-834. https://doi.org/10.4995/IDS2018.2018.7479