Evaluation of ascorbic acid and sugar degradation products during fruit dessert processing under conventional or ohmic heating treatment

The effects of conventional heating (C) or ohmic heating (O) treatment on the degradation of sugar and ascorbic acid (AA) were evaluated in chunky fruit desserts prepared with apple puree (Golden Delicious var.) and chunky peach (Panavi var.) pieces. Concentrations of 5-HMF, furfural (F), 3-hydroxy-2-pyrone (3H2P) and 2-furoic acid (FA) were determined to assess the importance of oxidative and/or thermal reactions during processing. Depending on the thermal processing, 5-HMF and F levels in samples ranged from not detected to 3260 and from not detected to 570 μg/100 g FW respectively. Production of 3H2P and FA ranged from 480 to 2670 and from 84 to 420 μg/100 g FW respectively. Results showed that the impact of final heating treatment on the formation of AA degradation products (3H2P and FA) was minor, if any. Thus, AA degradation during apple products processing mainly depended on oxidative reactions pathway. Likewise, ohmic heating processing had very little effect on the formation of 5-HMF and F, in opposite to conventional heating.     

Inactivation kinetics of food enzymes during ohmic heating

Ohmic heating of milk and fruit and vegetable juices was carried out at several incubation temperatures to investigate inactivation of alkaline phosphatase, pectin methylesterase and peroxidase. Mechanisms of inactivation of these enzymes and corresponding kinetic models were verified for each food material, using the multitemperature evaluation of inactivation data. Compared to inactivation by conventional indirect heating, kinetic parameters were changed but inactivation mechanisms remained the same. The kinetic parameter changes were relatively minor for pectin methylesterase and alkaline phosphatase. A significant destabilization of the labile isozyme fraction of peroxidase occurred by the effect of ohmic heating when the greatest decrease of stability was obtained for carrot juice.     

冷冻猪肉欧姆加热解冻电势梯度与尺寸对解冻效果的影响

欧姆加热解冻是一种潜力很大的解冻方法。试验中研究冻结物料的尺寸、电势梯度对解冻时间、解冻速率、失水率、解冻均匀性和能量利用率的影响。选用尺寸不同的冻猪肉进行了解冻试验,尺寸分别为直径3、4、5 cm,长度为6 cm。解冻时从中心温度-18～5℃。试验过程中,变换解冻材料中的电势梯度,分别为20、30、40V/cm。结果表明:电势梯度和尺寸对解冻均匀性、失水率、能量利用率的影响不大。电势梯度和样品尺寸对解冻时间的影响较明显,电势梯度变大,解冻时间变小,尺寸增大,解冻时间变长。电势梯度和尺寸对解冻速率的影响分为两个阶段。电势梯度和尺寸对内部冻结温度以下的解冻速率影响不明显。在内部冻结温度以上,电势梯度增大,解冻速率变大,解冻加快,样品尺寸变大,解冻速率降低。欧姆加热解冻较传统解冻中的水解冻具有很大的优势。     

Temperature dependent electrical conductivities of fruit purees during ohmic heating

Ohmic heating takes its name from Ohm’s law; the food material switched between electrodes has a role of resistance in the circuit. In this study, the apricot and peach purees were heated on a laboratory scale static ohmic heater by applying voltage gradients in the range of 20–70 V/cm. The voltage gradient was statistically significant on the ohmic heating rates for both purees (P < 0.05). The linear temperature dependent electrical conductivity relations were obtained. Bubbling was observed above 60 °C especially at high voltage gradients. The ohmic heating system performance coefficients were in the range of 0.49–1.00. The unsteady-state heat conduction equation for negligible internal resistance was solved with an ohmic heating generation term by the finite difference technique. The predictions of the mathematical model using obtained electrical conductivity equations were found to be very accurate.     

欧姆加热的电参数对杀菌效果的影响

采用欧姆加热杀菌与水浴加热杀菌对比的方法。以豆浆的总菌数为试验菌群,通过改变电源的电压和频率,得出电源的电压和频率与杀菌效果的关系。对比水浴加热杀菌的效果可知:当电压超过60V时,欧姆加热方法的杀菌效果明显好于水浴加热方法的杀菌效果,残菌率随处理电压的增加以指数规律减少;随着频率的增加,欧姆加热的杀菌好,但当频率超过一定值时杀菌效果降低;频率在30～300Hz时其杀菌效果明显优于水浴加热方法的杀菌。     

Goat milk free fatty acid characterization during conventional and ohmic heating pasteurization

The disruption of the milk fat globule membrane can lead to an excessive accumulation of free fatty acids in milk, which is frequently associated with the appearance of rancid flavors. Solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography techniques have been shown to be useful tools in the quantification of individual free fatty acids in dairy products providing enough sensitivity to detect levels of rancidity in milk. Therefore, the aim of this study was to characterize the short-chain and medium-chain free fatty acid profile in i) raw untreated goat milk; ii) raw goat milk passing through pumps and heating units (plate-and-frame heat exchanger and ohmic heater); and iii) processed goat milk by conventional and ohmic pasteurization to determine the influence of each treatment in the final quality of the milk. Multivariate statistical analysis has shown that the treatments studied were not responsible for the variability found on free fatty acid contents. In particular, it was possible to conclude that ohmic pasteurization at 72°C for 15 s did not promote an extended modification of free fatty acid contents in goat milk when compared with that of conventional pasteurization. Furthermore, principal component analysis showed that the capric acid can be used to discriminate goat's milk with different free fatty acid concentrations. Hierarchical cluster analysis showed evidence of the existence of correlations between contents of short and medium chain free fatty acids in goat milk.     

Gelation characteristics of tropical surimi under water bath and ohmic heating

Gelation characteristics of tropical surimi, namely threadfin bream (TB), bigeye snapper (BS), goatfish (GF) and lizardfish (LF) prepared in the absence and presence of 10 g kg^?1 egg white proteins were evaluated using either ohmic (OH) or water bath (WB) heating. LF and GF surimi exhibited higher endogenous proteolytic activity than BS and TB. Ohmic heating markedly minimized proteolysis of LF and GF surimi as evidenced by a reduction of trichloroacetic acid (TCA)-soluble oligopeptide content of gels and more retention of myosin heavy chain (MHC). Ohmic heating increased breaking force and deformation of TB and BS surimi by 1.3 and 1.6 times, respectively, as compared to water bath heating. However, TB surimi gels heated by a higher applied voltage gradient of 16.7 V cm^?1 exhibited lower breaking force than those heated at 6.7 V cm^?1. Gels heated ohmically contained lower total sulfhydryl concentration, indicating the greater extent of disulfide bond formation as compared to gels heated in a 90 °C water bath. The rapid heating method with shorter heating time could improve water holding capacity and preserve color of tropical surimi gels when compared to water bath heating.     

Reducing the formation of glucose degradation products in peritoneal dialysis solutions by ultrahigh temperature ohmic heating

Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is commonly performed by using preprepared dialysis solutions containing glucose, which are thermally treated to achieve commercial sterilization. A series of glucose degradation products (GDPs) are being formed, which react with the tissue during the dialysis procedure, thus baring a negative effect on the patient and the dialysis process. The present study tested the efficacy of ohmic heating as an alternative thermal treatment for continuous sterilization of PD solutions. The process was compared to conventional retort treatment, and GDPs accumulation was measured. Thermal treatments using the ohmic heating system were performed at three temperatures (105, 125, and 150 degrees C) with residence time at each temperature ranging from 0.84 to 12.0 s. The resulting concentrations of glyoxal (GO), methylglyoxal (MGO), and 3-deoxyglucosone (3-DG) in the PD solutions were measured. None of these GDPs were found in PD fluids treated by ohmic heating at 105 degrees C. The concentration of 3-DG, after a standard sterilization treatment (121 degrees C, 20 or 40 min) was one order of magnitude higher (approximately 140 and 242 microM) than after ohmic heating treatment at 125 degrees C. The results of the present study suggest that this technique can be used to produce solutions with much lower content of GDPs. It also demonstrates the advantage of using the ohmic heating technology as a tool for high temperature short time treatment of PD fluids.     

Apple polyphenoloxidase inactivation during heating in the presence of ascorbic acid and chlorogenic acid

It was recently reported that during osmotic dehydration of ascorbic acid (AA)-treated apple cubes, losses in AA and phenolics could partly arise from enzymatic oxidation, provided polyphenoloxidase (PPO) was still active under the processing conditions. To determine the impact of dehydration temperatures on PPO action, as well as chemical and enzymatic oxidation reactions, apple PPO inactivation alone or with AA (1 mM) and/or chlorogenic acid (CG, 3 mM), as well as AA and CG levels evolution, during heating of the model solutions at 45 and 60 °C were investigated. At pH 3.8, PPO was still functional, keeping 61 and 4% residual activity after 2 h of heating at 45 and 60 °C, respectively. The combined treatment of heating and AA was more effective in reducing PPO activity, while incubation at 60 °C with AA and CG minimised the losses of PPO activity. CG remained stable during heating, even in the presence of AA which, in turn, was more affected by heating. Thus, during heating, provided PPO remained active with enough available O₂ in the model systems, CG oxidation and coupled oxidoreduction with AA could readily develop.     

The temperature prediction of some botanical beverages,concentrated juices and purees of orange and pineapple during ohmic heating

In this research, 10 kinds of botanical beverages, concentrated juices and purees of orange and pineapple were heated applying a static ohmic heating system. The objectives were (1) to develop the mathematical models for predicting the temperature changes of these samples during ohmic heating and (2) to compare between the qualities of ohmically-heated and conventionally-heated specimens. The results indicated that the mathematical models can precisely predict the temperature variations of the concentrated purees during ohmic heating although the heat losses to the surroundings and evaporated moisture are neglected. However, the temperature estimation of botanical beverages and concentrated juices were more accurate if the heat losses to the surroundings and evaporated moisture were included in the mathematical models. Furthermore, at the same heating rate the ohmic and conventional heating methods resulted in the insignificant difference in the sensorial qualities and remaining vitamin C contents of orange and pineapple juices.     

Kinetics of ascorbic acid degradation in fruit-based infant foods during storage

The kinetics of ascorbic acid (AA) degradation in a fruit-based beikost product added with AA were determined after storage at 4, 25, 37 and 50 °C during 4, 8, 12, 16 and 32 weeks in plastic polypropylene/ethylene–vinyl alcohol vacuum packaging. It was confirmed that AA degradation followed an Arrhenius first-order kinetics, with an activation energy of 20.11 ± 0.33 kcal mol⁻¹. No AA losses at 4 °C were recorded during the entire storage period. In contrast, a time- and temperature-dependent decrease (p < 0.05) in AA was observed at the other tested temperatures – the degradation rate decreasing from 50 °C to 25 °C, as expected. AA percentage retention at the end of storage ranged between 6.4% (50 °C/16 weeks) and 100.9% (4 °C/32 weeks).     

Diffusion and thermal degradation of ascorbic acid during canned fresh green peas sterilisation

Changes of ascorbic acid (AA) during canned fresh green peas sterilisation in a rotary retort were predicted. It was considered that AA is thermally degraded in green peas and simultaneously diffuses to brine, where it is also degraded; heat transfer, mass transfer and kinetics equations were simultaneously solved during heating and cooling of the sterilisation process. Kinetic parameters of AA thermal degradation in brine were experimentally determined, while all other parameters needed were taken from bibliography. Simplified assumptions were made to explore diffusion and thermal degradation mechanisms relevance. Experimental runs were performed at different retort temperatures, end-over-end rotation speeds and headspaces in a pilot plant rotary retort; experimental data obtained on concentrations of AA in green peas and in brine were used to evaluate predictions goodness. Deviations between experimental and predicted results were 8.44% for AA in green peas and 13.79% in brine.     

Simulation and verification of ohmic heating in static heater using MRI temperature mapping

Mathematical modeling of ohmic heating of liquid-particulate mixtures allows insight into the heating behavior, but model verification that uses only a selected number of points in an ohmic heating system is inadequate because of the unknown temperature distribution within the heated food materials, including the locations of hot and cold spots. In this study, ohmic heating of liquid-particulate mixtures was simulated using the finite-element analysis with the commercial software FEMLAB, and the model predictions were verified against temperature maps obtained using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A factor ignored by the previous modeling works, the electricity-to-heat conversion efficiency, was considered in the model, resulting in an improved model performance. The electrical conductivity and its temperature dependence for all the materials used in the simulation were determined under consistent electric field strength as the simulated ohmic heating processes. Other factors/parameters affecting model prediction, such as the boundary conditions and heat transfer coefficients, were also determined in situ for an accurate parametric input. The model predictions yielded good agreement with the MRI temperature maps. Results showed that the electrical conductivity of the materials is the most critical factor causing heating rate variations between the particulate phase and the liquid phase. The heating rate variations could be overcome by adjusting the electrical conductivity of the food materials before ohmic heating. This modeling procedure can be used for designing and controlling ohmic heating processes to ensure thermal sterilization and safety of ohmically heated food products.     

Degradation kinetics of anthocyanins in acerola pulp: Comparison between ohmic and conventional heat treatment

Degradation kinetics of monomeric anthocyanins in acerola pulp during thermal treatment by ohmic and conventional heating was evaluated at different temperatures (75–90 °C). Anthocyanin degradation fitted a first-order reaction model and the rate constants ranged from 5.9 to 19.7 × 10⁻³ min⁻¹. There were no significant differences between the rate constants of the ohmic and the conventional heating processes at all evaluated temperatures. D-Values ranged from 116.7 to 374.5 for ohmic heating and from 134.9 to 390.4 for conventional heating. Values of the free energy of inactivation were within the range of 100.19 and 101.35 kJ mol⁻¹. The enthalpy of activation presented values between 71.79 and 71.94 kJ mol⁻¹ and the entropy of activation ranged from −80.15 to −82.63 J mol⁻¹ K⁻¹. Both heating technologies showed activation energy of 74.8 kJ mol⁻¹ and close values for all thermodynamic parameters, indicating similar mechanisms of degradation.     

Influence of ohmic heating and vacuum impregnation on the osmotic dehydration kinetics and microstructure of pears (cv. Packham’s Triumph)

The effect of ohmic heating (OH) and vacuum impregnation (VI) on the osmotic dehydration kinetics and microstructure of pears was studied. Three different dehydration levels (30, 40 and 50 °C) were used, by applying VI or not (OD) and OH (100 V). Dehydrated samples showed that the application of OH during the osmotic treatments had significant effects on the kinetics of water loss and sugar gain as well as on the microstructure of samples. The greatest water loss was observed with the OD-OH. The largest amount of solute gain and the smallest firmness loss were obtained in the VI-OH. In some treatments, the process time was reduced by as much as 40%. The SEM observations showed that cell deformation and cell rupture were significant in the OD-OH than on the VI-OH samples. The increases in the permeability of cell by OH explain the acceleration of mass transference and process time reduction.     

Effects of infrared heating on drying kinetics,antioxidant activity,phenolic content,and color of jujube fruit

This study investigated the effects of different infrared power (IP) levels (62, 88, and 125 W) and a pretreatment (soaking in a solution of 5 % potassium carbonate and 0.5 % olive oil) on the drying kinetics and some quality parameters of jujube fruit. The drying characteristics of jujube were greatly influenced by the pretreatment and IP level. The models of Lewis, Logarithmic, Page, and Aghbashlo et al. were fitted to the obtained experimental data using nonlinear regression analysis. The Page model showed a better fit to the experimental drying data when compared to the other models. The effective moisture diffusivity, calculated using Fick’s second law, ranged from 4.75 × 10^?10 to 4.17 × 10^?9 m²/s. Significantly, higher total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant capacity values were obtained for the pretreated samples subjected to higher IP levels. The total color change (ΔE) of the dried samples significantly increased with increasing IP level. Jujube fruits should be pretreated and then dried at 88 W IP to reduce phenolic degradation and undesired color changes and to increase the quality of the dried product.     

Influence of nitrate, ascorbic acid, and nitrate reductase microorganisms on N-nitrosamine formation during Korean-style soysauce fermentation.

Traditional Korean soysauce samples were collected from households in Chinju, Gyeongnam, Korea and analysed for volatile N-nitrosamines. Five of 24 samples contained NDMA (range = 1.6-10.4 micrograms/l) which was the only volatile N-nitroso compound found. Soysauce made from well water contained NDMA more often (4 of 6 samples) than soysauce made from tap water (1 of 18). This suggests that the water source is a determinate in the NDMA content of soysauce, probably due to a higher nitrate content of well water. The source of salt used did not clearly influence NDMA content. Soysauce was prepared in the laboratory using traditional methods but with 0 to 400 mg/l nitrate and in some cases made 6.5 to 65 mM in ascorbic acid and fermented for 120 days. The NDMA content of the samples was positively correlated with increasing nitrate concentration. Nitrate at 400 mg/l resulted in an NDMA content of 203 micrograms/l. Ascorbic acid substantially inhibited NDMA formation. All samples contained large numbers of nitrate reductase-containing organisms (greater than 1 x 10(7) CFU/ml).     

Kinetic compensation relations for ascorbic acid degradation and pectinesterase inactivation during orange juice pasteurisations

The thermal degradation kinetics of ascorbic acid and the inactivation kinetics of pectinesterase were studied experimentally with pH-adjusted orange juice. No simple trends were observed in variation of the kinetic parameters with pH, but both kinetic functions agreed with kinetic compensation relations. An isokinetic temperature was observed for ascorbic acid degradation at pH 2.5, 3.0, and 3.5 implying that the same degradation mechanism was valid at these pH values. A large deviation at pH 4.0 from this isokinetic reaction rate implied that the degradation mechanism was different at this pH. There was no isokinetic temperature for pectinesterase inactivation reactions, indicating that pectinesterase was inactivated by different mechanisms at different pH values. The variation of the inactivation mechanism of pectinesterase with pH was attributed to its more complex molecular structure.     

The effects of concentration on electrical conductivity of orange juice concentrates during ohmic heating

Ohmic heating is an alternative heating technique, using an electrical current passing through the food product. It can be specially used in pumpable food lines as an alternative heating unit. In this study, orange juice concentrates having 0.20–0.60 mass fraction soluble solids were ohmically heated by using five different voltage gradients (20–60 V/cm). The dependence of electrical conductivity on temperature, voltage gradient and concentration were measured. The ohmic heating system performance coefficients were calculated by using the energies given to the system and taken by the orange juice samples. The mathematical model results, taking system performance coefficients into account, were compared with experimental ones. The predictions of the mathematical model were found to be very accurate.     

Synergy between high-pressure, temperature and ascorbic acid on the inactivation of Bacillus cereus

B. cereus strain (CECF 148) was used as a model system in the study of the behaviour of bacillus under high pressure, at temperatures over and below 0 °C and with ascorbic acid added to the culture. Three different assays were carried out in the present experiment. The first assay was performed to observe how B. cereus reacted to pressure shift freezing (PSF) treatment at different subzero temperatures (−8, −12, −20 and −17 °C) and pressures (120, 150, 210 and 350 MPa) in their vegetative form. In the second assay, we observed how different concentrations of ascorbic acid (1, 2, 5 and 20 mM) added to the growing brought decreased B. cereus on its vegetative form. Finally, we tried to inactivate the vegetative and spore form of B. cereus under pressure of 210 MPa at room (20 °C) (HP) and at subzero (−20 °C) (PSF) temperatures, in presence of ascorbic acid (20 mM), added to the growing culture (TSB). The results confirmed that pressures of 210 and 350 MPa at low temperatures (−20 and −17 °C) in the PSF treatment were not enough to inactivate bacillus and only about 10% of B. cereus at the assayed conditions (350 MPa at −17 °C) lost its growth capacity. The presence of ascorbic acid reduced the amount of B. cereus. The initial amount of B. cereus in the vegetative form was 10⁸ to 10⁹ cfu/mL. After HP (210 MPa at 20 °C) and PSF (210 MPa at −20 °C) treatments, the amount of B. cereus decreased by 4 and 2 logarithmic units, respectively. However, in both treatments, the presence of ascorbic acid (20 mM concentration) reduced the B. cereus growth capacity in about 5 logarithmic units. The presence of ascorbic acid in the spore form decreased the amount of B. cereus only by 2 logarithmic units, but without the antioxidant, the values remained close to control. The present research is a contribution to elicit the safety standards of food treated by high pressure.