Impact of freeze‐drying shelf temperature on the bioactive compounds, physical properties and sensory evaluation of a product based on orange juice

Effects and impacts of technical processing units on the nutrients and functional components of fruit and vegetable juice

Fruit and vegetable juice (FVJ) has become a favorite beverage for all age groups because of its excellent sensory and nutritional qualities. FVJ has a series of health benefits such as antioxidant, anti-obesity, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and anti-cancer. Except for raw materials selection, processing technology and packaging and storage also play a vital role in the nutrition and functional components of FVJ. This review systematically reviews the important research results on the relationship between FVJ processing and its nutrition and function in the past 10 years. Based on the brief elucidation of the nutrition and health benefits of FVJ and the unit operation involved in the production process, the influence of a series of key technology units, including pretreatment, clarification, homogenization, concentration, sterilization, drying, fermentation and packaging and storage, on the nutritional function of FVJ was systematically expounded. This contribution provides an update on the impacts of technical processing units on the nutrients and functional components of FVJ and new perspectives for future studies.

Characterization of the Orange Juice Powder Co-Product for Its Valorization as a Food Ingredient

The citrus juice industry produces a large amount of fiber-rich waste and other bioactive compounds of great interest for their potential health benefits. This study focuses on the valorization of the co-product resulting from the extraction of orange juice to offer it as a versatile, healthy, high-quality, and stable natural food ingredient in powder form. To this end, the vitamin C (VC) content (ascorbic and dehydroascorbic acid, AA and DHAA), major flavonoids (hesperidin and narirutin, HES and NAT), and techno-functional properties (angle of repose, AoR; hygroscopicity and wettability; density and porosity; mean particle size, MPS; water retention capacity, WRC; oil holding capacity, ORC; emulsifying and foaming capacity, EC and FC; and emulsion and foam stability, ES and FS) have been characterized. In addition, considering that dehydrated foods with high sugar content require the incorporation of high molecular weight biopolymers for their physical stabilization, the influence of starch modified with octenyl succinic acid (OSA) and gum Arabic (GA) on these properties has been studied. The results obtained confirm the high quality of this co-product to be offered as a powdered food ingredient with nutraceutical potential. The addition of the studied biopolymers is recommended as it does not modify the flowability of the powder and favors both the encapsulation of the bioactive compounds, especially in the presence of GA, and the rehydration capacity.

Optimization of Extraction Parameters and Characterization of Tunisian Date Extract: A Scientific Approach Toward Their Utilization

The response surface methodology (RSM) was used in order to select the extraction conditions of extract from Kentichi date powder; a by-product of the date-processing process. Powder/solvent ratio, extraction temperature, and extraction time all had an impact on sugar yield, and these model factors have quadratic effects influencing sugar yield. Optimal extraction was obtained with 300 g/L powder/solvent ratio, 32.7 °C extraction temperature, and 2.1 h extraction time. Under these conditions, Kentichi date powder's (KDP) sugar yield was 77.1%, which was close to the predicted value of the model (80.50%). The results of Kentichi date powder extract (KDPE) showed that the total sugar content is 160.09 g/L. However, the protein content is 10.31 g/L with a majority of the essential amino acids (essentially glutamic acid (28.39 mg/L) and aspartic acid (9.65 mg/L)). The determination of antioxidant activity of KDPE showed a high activity (DPPH IC₅₀ = 4.8 mg/mL, ABTS IC₅₀ = 3 mg/mL, FRAP = 4.70 μmol AAE/mL and, TAA = 18.04 μmol Fe(II)/mL). The results show also that the freeze-drying technique has a lot of potential for producing powder from KDPE with many desirable properties. The findings indicate that KDPE with a high nutritional value could be used as a component for the formulation of functional foods.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12355-022-01223-2.

Probiotics in Citrus Fruits Products: Health Benefits and Future Trends for the Production of Functional Foods—A Bibliometric Review

The relationship between food and human health drives the search for knowledge of food components that are related to these benefits. The scientific community shows a growing interest in the knowledge of the interactions between components of citrus fruits and probiotics to develop ways to improve the quality of the food produced. In this bibliometric review, a study of scientific publications is carried out on the potential of probiotics in citrus fermentation, addressing the importance and future trends of plant-based products in the functional food group as an alternative to the dairy market. The review process of the articles initially took place with a bibliometric analysis and was followed by a literature review. The Scopus database was used in the search for articles, carried out in May 2021. The use of foods as carriers of probiotics is an alternative that has been growing and the surveys evaluated show the desire to diversify the probiotics available on the market. In addition, it was observed that citrus fruits have great potential for the development of functional foods due to their high acceptability and possibilities of development and application in various products.

Impact of the Freeze-Drying Conditions Applied to Obtain an Orange Snack on Energy Consumption

Nowadays, the consumer is looking for healthier, more attractive, ready-to-eat, and safer foodstuffs than fresh products. Despite freeze drying being known for providing high added value products, it is a slow process which is conducted at low pressures, so, in terms of energy consumption, it turns out to be quite costly for the food industry. With the purpose of obtaining a freeze-dried orange puree, previously formulated with gum Arabic and bamboo fiber, which can be offered to consumers as a snack at a low economic cost, the impact of the process conditions on energy consumption has been considered. The product temperature evolution and the energy consumption were registered during the drying of frozen samples at different combinations of chamber pressures (5 and 100 Pa) and shelf temperatures (30, 40 and 50 °C). In each case, the time processing was adapted in order to obtain a product with a water content under 5 g water/100 g product. In this study, the secondary drying stage was considered to start when the product reached the shelf temperature and both the pressure and the temperature affected the duration of primary and secondary drying stages. The results obtained led to the conclusion that the shorter duration of the process when working at 50 °C results in significant energy saving. Working at a lower pressure also contributes to a shortening of the drying time, thus reducing the energy consumption: the lower the temperature, the more marked the effect of the pressure.