Effects of High Pressure on Chemical Reactions Related to Food Quality

Multi-scale model of food drying: Current status and challenges

For a long time, food engineers have been trying to describe the physical phenomena that occur during food processing especially drying. Physics-based theoretical modeling is an important tool for the food engineers to reduce the hurdles of experimentation. Drying of food is a multi-physics phenomenon such as coupled heat and mass transfer. Moreover, food structure is multi-scale in nature, and the microstructural features play a great role in the food processing specially in drying. Previously simple macroscopic model was used to describe the drying phenomena which can give a little description about the smaller scale. The multiscale modeling technique can handle all the phenomena that occur during drying. In this special kind of modeling approach, the single scale models from bigger to smaller scales are interconnected. With the help of multiscale modeling framework, the transport process associated with drying can be studied on a smaller scale and the resulting information can be transferred to the bigger scale. This article is devoted to discussing the state of the art multi-scale modeling, its prospect and challenges in the field of drying technology. This article has also given some directions to how to overcome the challenges for successful implementation of multi-scale modeling.

High-pressure processing of berry and other fruit products: implications for bioactive compounds and food safety

Fruits contain a variety of nutrients and polyphenols that are associated with health benefits. Year-round availability of fresh fruits is limited due to perishability. Processing fruits extends shelf life. Individual quick-frozen fruit is the most common for fruits, but nowadays, processing fruits into beverages offers extended shelf life and new market opportunities. Conventional thermal processing is an effective method for producing safe, extended shelf life, and shelf-stable products, including beverages. However, the high temperatures negatively affect nutritive quality by destroying essential nutrients and biologically active "non-essential" components such as polyphenols. Therefore, novel technologies that can preserve nutrient quality while ensuring food safety are warranted. In this review, the application of high-pressure processing (HPP) for preserving nutrients and phytochemicals while ensuring microbiological safety in beverages and other foods containing fruits is discussed.