The assessment of a characteristic drying curve for milk powder for use in computational fluid dynamics modelling is reported in this work, for particle sizes and drying conditions typical of those in spray dryers. A review of previous literature, with particle diameters greater than 2 mm, has shown that a linear falling-rate curve is an acceptable approximation for the hindered drying of this material. For the diameters of milk particles in spray dryers, the drying times are predicted using a linear falling-rate curve to be of the order of 1 s compared with residence times of 20-80 s in full-scale equipment.