Dust formation in French fries

Causal factors concerning the texture of French fries manufactured at industrial scale

In this paper, we review the physical/chemical phenomena, contributing to the final texture of French fries, as occurs in the whole industrial production chain of frozen par-fried fries. Our discussion is organized following a multiscale hierarchy of these causal factors, where we distinguish the molecular, cellular, microstructural, and product levels. Using the same multiscale framework, we also discuss currently available theoretical knowledge, and experimental methods probing the relevant physical/chemical phenomena. We have identified knowledge gaps, and experimental methods are evaluated in terms of the effort and value of their results. With our overviews, we hope to give promising research directions such to arrive at a multiscale model, encompassing all causal factors relevant to the final texture. This multiscale model is the ultimate tool to evaluate process innovations for effects on final textural quality, which can be balanced against the impacts on sustainability and economics.

Comparative study of conventional frying and air frying on the quality of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.)

The human being has historically consumed fried foods for centuries; however, conventional frying has a disadvantage, immersion in vegetable and/or animal oils, which leads to the search for different options. This is why air frying is a good alternative, which still has a wide field of study. In this work, frozen French fries of a brand marketed in Mexico that were subjected to frying in canola oil and air frying were compared. They were evaluated through the change in the removed moisture content, water activity, color profile, hardness, fracturability, and surface damage by SEM, thermal analysis by MDSC, and chemical by FTIR-ATR spectroscopy. Air-fried French fries were found to contain about 48% less moisture, fewer perceptible color changes, and less surface damage translated into better crunchiness compared with conventionally fried. It was also found that the changes at the chemical level are smaller, mainly attributed to the absence of canola oil and that the thermal transitions are more stable in terms of temperatures and enthalpies, which makes it possible to emphasize that air frying is a good alternative for developing new fried products that allow expanding the variety of these in the market without sacrificing some quality attributes.

Lattice Boltzmann model for freezing of French fries

In this paper we present a Lattice Boltzmann model for food freezing, using the enthalpy method. Simulations are performed using the case study of freezing par-fried french fries. The action of par-frying leads to moisture removal from the crust region, which was treated via the initial conditions for the freezing model. Simulations show that under industrial-relevant freezing conditions, the crust region remains either unfrozen or only partially frozen. This result is important for the practical quality problem of dust, which is the phenomenon of fracturing of the crust during finish-frying. Next to the insight, the Lattice Boltzmann freezing model rendered for the case study of par-fried french fries, we pose that this freezing application is a comprehensive tutorial problem, via which food scientists can be conveniently introduced to the Lattice Boltzmann method. Commonly, the Lattice Boltzmann method has its value in solving complex fluid flow problems, but the complexity of these problems is possibly withholding food scientists to get familiar with the method. Our freezing is solved in 2D, and on a simple square lattice with only 5 particle velocities (a D2Q5 lattice). We hope via this simple tutorial problem, the Lattice Boltzmann method becomes more accessible.