Journal of Food Process Engineering最新文献

Fruits and vegetables, rich in nutrients but prone to rapid deterioration due to their high moisture content, benefit from dehydration methods for shelf life extension. Osmotic dehydration, known for its energy efficiency and quality preservation, involves submerging food in a hypertonic solution to reduce moisture content. This review examines osmotic dehydration mechanisms, mass transfer kinetics, and the influence of pretreatment techniques like pulse electric, cold plasma, gamma irradiation, ohmic heating, and combinations of pretreatment such as catalytic infrared blanching and ultrasound etc. Fructose, sucrose, and sodium chloride are common osmotic agents used. Texture analysis, microstructure evaluation, and mass transfer kinetics models aid in understanding moisture and solid gain dynamics. This review provides insights into optimizing osmotic dehydration processes for high-moisture foods, offering guidance for researchers and food technologists to enhance product quality and efficiency.

Tartary buckwheat (TB) products are receiving increasing attention due to their bioactive components and health-promoting properties. However, current processing methods and derived products of TB remain limited in scope and diversity. In order to maximize the nutritional value of TB while maintaining a pleasant sensory profile, TB infused with pineapple at different ratios (0:1, 1:0, 1:1, 1:2, 1:3) was fermented by kombucha for 0, 2, 4, 6 days and the nutritive and sensory properties of the beverages were monitored. The fermentation process rapidly increased (p < 0.05) the content of organic acids, bioactive components (rutin, gallic acid, folic acid), total phenol content, antioxidant capacity, and aroma compounds in the TB-pineapple kombucha (TBPK) beverage after 2 days of fermentation. However, extended fermentation time (6 days) significantly decreased (p < 0.05) the flavor profiles of TBPK beverages due to the rapid accumulation of total acids. TBPK3 (TB:PK = 1:3) fermented for two days obtained the highest sensory score while maintaining pronounced levels of bioactive compounds and antioxidant capacity. Results of GC–MS proved that TBPK3 produced abundant volatile compounds which “soften” the sharpness of the traditional kombucha beverage and formed the unique flavor characteristics of the TBPK3 beverage. Incorporation of Lactobacillus bulgaricus into TBPK3 further decreased its intensity of total acids while increasing the yields of esters and ketones with enhanced floral and fruity aromas. Results of this study may benefit the development of a novel TB beverage with enhanced bioactivity and flavor characteristics, and serve as a reference for the production of functional fermented beverages from other coarse cereals.

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of magnetic field application as a sustainable hurdle technology with minimal adverse biological effects and no toxic effects in ensuring the microbiological safety of liquid egg yolk. Additionally, the effect of applied magnetic fields on the stability of liquid egg yolk, as well as its physicochemical and technofunctional properties, has been investigated. A magnetic field was applied to the yolk under two distinct intensities and durations, and the samples were maintained for 21 days. The physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of the processed and raw samples were compared throughout the study period. The implementation of magnetic fields decreased the pH, water activity, firmness, cohesiveness, color values, and microbiological outcomes of the samples. Conversely, they showed an upward effect on brix, emulsion stability, consistency, and viscosity index values. On the final day of storage, samples subjected to a 240 mT magnetic field intensity for 60 min exhibited the lowest recorded values: pH (6.10), water activity (0.810), firmness (10.61 g), cohesiveness (−4.22 g), L* (33.52), a* (1.01), b* (18.96), and total counts of aerobic mesophilic bacteria (1.21 log cfu/g), aerobic psychrophilic bacteria (1.09 log cfu/g), total coliform group bacteria (0.34), and coagulase-positive Staphylococcus species (0.87 log cfu/g). Conversely, the samples exposed to the same parameters exhibited the highest values: % Brix (46.15), % emulsion stability (85.43), consistency (54.25 g s), and viscosity index (−0.52 g s). Furthermore, both the magnetic field intensity and application duration affected the resultant effects on the products.

Unused parts of fruits are industry by-products, commonly discarded that generate agro-industrial waste worldwide. In addition, studies report that the by-products contain bioactive compounds and, in some cases, may even have a higher content of such compounds than the fruit pulp itself. This review provides information on the composition and recovery of bioactive antioxidant compounds from fruit by-products, updates on current uses and reuse methods, encourages the full use of fruits and valorization of their by-products, and presents the recent advances in valorization technologies. Fruit by-products are rich in bioactive compounds and have high antioxidant capacity. Conventional and unconventional extraction technologies have been applied to obtain their extracts. Drying and microencapsulation are widely applied to unused parts of fruits and influence the final product's bioactivity and antioxidant capacity. The use of fruit co-products aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Additionally, fruit by-products can be used to develop functional ingredients, food products, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, food wrappers and packages, and food additives.

The present study investigated the effect of two techniques for refractance window (RW) drying on its drying kinetics and bioactive compounds of red prickly pear peels (Opuntia ficus indica), such as antioxidant capacity, phenolics and betalains. First, it assessed the effect of ethanol applications before RW drying at 50°C, 60°C, 70°C, and 80°C, finding that these treatments did not significantly accelerate drying processes. Later, three drying methods were evaluated: RW, ultrasound-assisted refractance window (RW US) and convective air drying (AC), at 50°C and 70°C. The results showed that ultrasound accelerates RW drying by reducing around 40% of drying time at 50°C to reduce moisture to approximately 10% (w.b.). Further, RW US was the best method to preserve antioxidant activity. Although the samples dried at 70°C significantly had more betalains than the samples dried at 50°C, the betalains extracted from the samples dried at 50°C were more stable for 21 days at 4°C, especially using RW US. In conclusion, RW US showed to be an efficient and promising alternative to stabilize the bioactive compounds of red prickly pear peels, strengthening its potential for further applications in foods, beverages, and other functional products.

During the processing and storage of walnuts, defects such as shriveled and moldy nuts can significantly diminish product quality and impede processing efficiency. An intelligent walnut quality classification method based on X-ray imaging and multi-domain feature fusion is proposed to address this issue. After extracting spatial, Fourier, and wavelet features from X-ray images of normal, shriveled, and moldy walnuts, single and fused feature sets were used to build and evaluate Extreme Learning Machine (ELM), One-vs-All Logistic Regression (OVALR), and K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) models. The optimal feature-model combination was then determined based on classification metrics. Subsequently, three dimensionality reduction methods were applied to the optimal fused features, and classification models were reconstructed with the reduced datasets. SHAP analysis was used to interpret feature contributions and identify the most discriminative features. Finally, the Arithmetic Optimization Algorithm (AOA), White Shark Optimizer (WSO), and Cuckoo Search Algorithm (CSA) were used to fine-tune model hyperparameters. Experimental results demonstrated that the VISSA-CSA-OVALR model achieved the best performance, with accuracy, precision, and specificity on the test set reaching 94.72%, 94.79%, and 97.36%, respectively. This study provides a theoretical foundation for developing high-precision, non-destructive, and online quality sorting equipment for walnuts and other nuts.

This study takes pan-fired White Tea as the object and calibrates the multi-scale White Tea (single leaf, two leaves, three leaves) particle simulation parameters. The physical properties, such as static friction, coefficient of restitution, and rolling friction, were determined through physical testing methods, and the repose angle test of White Tea was carried out. Then, a discrete element model was constructed, combining the Plackett-Burman experiment; the significant relationships of multiple parameters on the influence of the dislocation element simulation on the angle of repose were analyzed. The range of values for the significant parameters was determined using the steepest ascent test, and on this basis, the Box-Behnken experiment was conducted to obtain the optimal values of the significant parameters. The verification showed that the error between the simulated angle of repose and the measured value was significantly reduced, being 1.07% and 2.03% respectively. The optimized parameters can effectively improve the simulation accuracy of multi-scale White Tea granules using the discrete element method. They provide simulation parameter support for the later sorting of famous and excellent White Tea, as well as the development of equipment for shaping, sorting, and selecting White Tea.

Tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.) drying is a critical post-harvest process essential for efficient dehulling and deseeding. Conventional methods, such as sun drying, are inherently weather-dependent and often compromise product quality, while convective drying in humid environments frequently leads to moisture regain and undesirable pulp stickiness. To overcome these limitations, a novel dehumidified air dryer was designed, fabricated, and optimized specifically for tamarind fruit. The dryer's design, initially based on theoretical calculations for a 100 kg capacity, incorporates precise control over both temperature and humidity to minimize heat-induced damage and significantly enhance drying efficiency. A key experimental focus was the evaluation of pulp adhesiveness, a critical parameter directly influencing subsequent deseeding efficiency. Using a Box–Behnken experimental design and Response Surface Methodology, the optimal drying conditions were determined to be 2% relative humidity, 4 m/s air velocity, and 7.5 kg tray loading. Under these conditions, the system achieved a drying time of 9.06 h, a deseeding efficiency of 98.93%, and desirable color values. This study comprehensively demonstrates the unprecedented ability of a tailored dehumidified-air drying system to concurrently optimize drying kinetics and preserve critical processing characteristics of tamarind.