Application of moderate electric fields and CO2-laser microperforations for the acceleration of the salting process of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

Comparative study of ultrasound application versus mechanical agitation on pork belly brining for bacon production

Pork belly brining is a time-consuming step of bacon production that needs to be studied and enhanced through suitable technologies. In this sense, this study aimed at evaluating the impact of ultrasound (US), mechanical agitation (AG), and static brine (SB) on the kinetics of water loss (WL), solids gain (SG), and salt content (SC) of pork belly during brining under different temperatures. Mathematical models were used to estimate mass transfer rates, equilibrium parameters, and thermodynamic properties. Peleg model was chosen as the most suitable model to predict the kinetics experimental data (Radj2 ≥ 0.979 and RMSE ≤ 0.014). The increase in the brine temperature increased WL, SG, and SC for all treatments. Nonlinear effects of temperature were observed for WL, SG, and SC, following an Arrhenius-type behavior. The assistance of ultrasound significantly enhanced the velocity of WL, SG, and SC by 32-56%, while AG improved by 18-39% both compared to SB. Brining was considered an endothermic and non-spontaneous process through the thermodynamic assessment. The increase in temperature and the AG and US processes accelerated the formation of the activated complex. The application of ultrasound was considered the most suitable technology to reduce the brining time. However, significant improvements can be obtained by mechanical agitation. Therefore, both methods can be used to reduce the time processing of pork belly aiming at accelerating the bacon production process.

Potential of CO2 laser for food processing: Applications and challenges

Laser food processing has the breath-taking potential to revolutionize the industry in many aspects. Among the different laser configurations, CO₂ laser has received special attention due to its relative high efficiency in power generation, its high-power output and its laser beam wavelength, infrared, which is strongly absorbed by water, the main component of food materials. Over the last 50 years, different uses of CO₂ laser for processing foods have been proposed so far, including cooking, broiling and browning, selective laser sintering, marking, microperforation for improving downstream mass transfer operations (e.g. infusion, diffusion, marinating, salting, drying, extraction), cutting and peeling, and microbial surface decontamination. The present work is a review of the state of the art of the use of CO₂ laser for food processing that covers the main characteristics and mechanisms of this technology, as well as the most important published results regarding its applications in the agri-food sector, highlighting the main challenges to bring out its full potential in the coming years.