Drum drying of banana pulp on the sorption isotherm and flexible packaging requirement

Banana (musa Sapientum var Cavendish) pulp was obtained and drum dried with varied concentrations of prepared cornstarch, skimmed milk powder and sugar. The water activities of the resulting powders were determined and from which the packaging requirement of the free flowing combinations was determined. The dried banana pulp was found to be thermoplastic and highly hygroscopic. The thermosplasticity has been proved in model system to be mainly due to the sugars naturally present or added. Cornstarch added up to a level of 7.5% on the fresh weight of the pulp aided drying but did not reduce hygroscopicity skimmed milk powder similarity of 5.10% level improved the drying. Characteristics slightly. The dried product had moisture content of approximately 2.0% which was equivalent to (aw)of 5.11 of 38.5 oC. The storage condition should be such that does not go beyond 0.15 which is equivalent to about 2.5% moisture. In this range of (aw), Polyethylene (density 0.954) of thickness more than 5 mil or saran 517 of 1 mil thickness would be expected to keep the product in good condition at 300C for 300 days.