The quality of ice cream depends on many factors: raw materials, recipe, production and storage conditions, etc. The choice of ingredients during the manufacture of ice cream is an important factor that not only affects the nutritional value and functional orientation, but also the formation of the structure of the final product. Low-calorie ice cream, in terms of its composition and characteristics, best meets the requirements for healthy food products. However, in low-calorie ice cream, the mass fraction of moisture is too high (about 70 %), as a result of which noticeable ice crystals form in it during freezing. Therefore, in order to improve the organoleptic and rheological indicators of low-calorie ice cream, it is necessary to increase the mass fraction of dry substances by using milk processing products, namely, skimmed milk powder (SMP) and whey concentrates (whey protein concentrate (WPC), dry demineralized whey (DWW), vegetable (apple powder) ingredients, including grain (rice and sesame flour), dietary fibers (inulin, etc.). The purpose of the work was to study the influence of whey concentrates and plant ingredients on the formation of the structure of low-calorie milk ice cream during its production. The article presents the results of research on the dispersion of structural elements of low-calorie ice cream mixtures and structural-mechanical properties based on indicators of effective viscosity and activation energy. It was established that with an increase in the shear rate, there is a decrease in the effective viscosity indicators in all samples of milk mixtures for ice cream. The presence of whey and vegetable components in ice cream mixes helps to increase the consistency coefficient and activation energy. Moreover, in the milk mixture with WPC and rice flour, these indicators are 2.8 times higher than the indicators of the control, which is represented by a traditional type of milk ice cream. As a result of the study of the microstructure of the low-calorie mixture samples, it was established that after processing, the low-calorie ice cream test samples are more saturated with air, and, therefore, their whippedness is higher compared to the control. It is shown that the air bubbles in the experimental samples are homogeneous and evenly distributed over the entire surface of the ice cream. At the same time, the content of finely dispersed air bubbles in experimental ice cream samples with sizes from 1 to 30 microns is in the range of 29-43 %, in contrast to the control, in which it is 18 %. It has been experimentally proven that the addition of whey concentrates and vegetable ingredients to the ice cream mixture followed by processing contributes to the formation of a homogeneous structural frame with an even distribution of components in the finished product. The obtained research results confirm the significant influence of the viscosity of the mixtures on the whipping of ice cream and the size of dispersed air particles.

Key words: low-calorie ice cream, mixture for low-calorie ice cream, whey concentrates, vegetableingredients, rheological indicators, microstructure.