A Comprehensive Analysis of Apricot Drying Methods via Multi-Criteria Decision Making Techniques

Food and food safety have been among the most important issues for people throughout history. Societies have always tried to be self-sufficient in food and have avoided becoming dependent on foreign sources. However, the fact that most foods are seasonal and the increasing population's food consumption have revealed the need to preserve foodstuffs for a long time. The old and well-known method used today for extending shelf life is the drying process. The drying process is preferred over other preservation methods for reasons such as being more economical, easier to transport, having a longer shelf life, more concentrated nutritional value, and containing fewer additives. This ensures that dried foods are of higher quality in terms of physical, chemical, microbial properties, and nutritional values compared to other packaged foods. While the drying process was traditionally done over a long period, technological advancements have led to the production of higher quality and more valuable commercial products in a shorter time. In this study, traditional and technological methods used in drying apricots were compared according to the parameters determined by experts in the field. Since multiple parameters are effective in the comparison, Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques were used. The optimum apricot drying method was determined by combining the results obtained from different MCDM techniques with the Borda rule.