Experimental determination of the amount of ice instantaneously formed in high-pressure shift freezing

The main aim of this paper was to experimentally determine the amount of ice instantaneously formed after expansion during high-pressure shift freezing (HPSF). To do that, an easy, quick and cheap procedure was developed able to obtain accurate ice ratio estimations from temperature data of the sample after the pressure release. Very different pressure and temperature conditions, both near and far from the melting curve liquid–ice I, were chosen to produce different amounts of ice after expansion in HPSF experiments. Sucrose solutions of several concentrations (10%, 20%, 30% and 40% w/w) were also employed to study the influence of the water content of the sample. Good agreement was found between experimental estimations and theoretical predictions from the heat balance model for all the pressure and temperature conditions tested. The results showed that increasing pressure at a given temperature before expansion is an effective and fast way to increase the amount of ice produced.     

A novel technique to control ice cream freezing by electrical characteristics analysis

The freezing process is very important in ice cream production affecting quality, taste and yield of the finished product. Batch freezer machines use different control techniques to tightly control the freezing process, based on monitoring of the temperature and/or the viscosity (i.e. consistency) of the product. Temperature control, however, features low sensitivity and need calibration for different product compositions, while product viscosity is essentially inferred from dasher motor load, sensitive to power line fluctuations, volume of product and dasher motor characteristics. In this context, this paper presents a novel technique based on measurements of the product electrical characteristics, tightly linked to temperature and viscosity. The experimental results presented in this work clearly indicate that the proposed technique provides a suitable, nondestructive tool to monitor ice cream quality product that overcomes the drawbacks of the standard methods, thus representing an advance in the state of the art for freezing control.     

Undercooling associated with slow freezing and its influence on the microstructure and properties of rice starch gels

It is well accepted that high undercooling or supercooling usually produces numerous small ice crystals. This paper shows that if heat transfer is not rapid enough, high undercooling causes non-homogenous sized ice crystals. Three freezing regimes (i.e. fast, slow and slow with undercooling) were used in this study. Fast freezing produced numerous homogeneously small ice crystals embedded in a thin rice starch gel matrix. This microstructure caused low % syneresis and hardness versus slow freezing’s rather homogenous distribution of fewer large ice crystals embedded in a thicker gel matrix resulting in high % syneresis and hardness. However, slow freezing with undercooling produced non-homogenous clusters involving small and large ice crystals embedded in a very thick gel matrix. Starch retrogradation before ice formation played an important role in this frozen structure. The information gained from this study enhances understanding of the behavior of starch-based food during freezing and storage.     

Ultrasound assisted nucleation of some liquid and solid model foods during freezing

Power ultrasound has been proven to be useful in promoting the nucleation of ice in water-based solutions, and different mechanisms have been proposed to describe this phenomenon. In the present work, the use of ultrasound waves to induce dynamic nucleation in deionised water, sucrose solution, and agar gel samples was studied, and the mechanism of ultrasound assisted nucleation was discussed. The samples were frozen in an ethylene glycol–water mixture (− 20 °C) in an ultrasonic bath system after putting them into tubing vials. Ultrasound irradiation (25 kHz, 0.25 W cm⁻¹) was applied continuously for 1, 3, 5, 10 or 15 s at different sample's temperatures in the range of 0 °C to − 5 °C. The nucleation temperatures of the water, sucrose solution and agar gel samples without ultrasound irradiation, occurred stochastically at − 7.4 ± 2.4 °C, −10.6 ± 1.7 °C and − 7.5 ± 0.92 °C, respectively and followed normal distributions. Unlike agar gel samples, the nucleation temperatures of water and sucrose were induced by applying ultrasound for 5 s at different temperatures after a short delay, and linear relationships between the ultrasound irradiation temperatures and the nucleation temperatures were observed. Evaluation of the effect of different durations of ultrasound application on agar gels indicated that 1 s was not long enough to induce nucleation, 3 s was optimal, 5 s and 10 s produced heat and inhibited nucleation, and 15 s did not exhibit significant differences from 3 s and 10 s. It was concluded that longer irradiation durations (especially 5 s and 10 s) caused the sample to heat up, which interrupted or delayed the nucleation. Ultrasound irradiation for 3 s induced nucleation in agar gel samples at different temperatures resulting in a linear relationship between irradiation and nucleation temperatures. The observations indicated that the Hickling's theory, according to which vigorous collapses of bubbles are the only driving mechanism of nucleation, is not adequate to describe the ultrasound assisted nucleation. The results, however, were in agreement with results of some other researchers suggesting that secondary phenomena such as flow streams are also important for the initiation of nucleation. In conclusion, the use of ultrasound as a means to control the crystallisation process offers promising application in food freezing, though further investigations are needed for understanding the mechanisms, especially in solid foods.     

Influence of commercial freezing and storage on vitamin C content of some vegetables

Vitamin C levels of commercially frozen okra, potatoes, green beans, broccoli, spinach and peas, including the impact of processing and storage, were studied. Depending on the vegetable type, prefreezing operations caused a 19.1–51.5% decrease in the initial vitamin C levels. The freezing process alone did not influence the vitamin levels except in the cases of green beans and spinach. Total losses (%) were between 27.6 and 57.9 for the vegetables at the end of commercial frozen storage (6 months). All the data obtained from this study confirmed that, depending on the vegetable type, prefreezing operations have a major impact on the vitamin C contents and this influence persists in the frozen storage.     

Impact of pretreatment and freezing conditions on the microstructure of frozen carrots: Quantification and relation to texture loss

The textural quality of carrots subjected to pretreatments affecting the pectin structure in combination with different freezing conditions was studied. Carrot samples frozen under different conditions were extensively studied by light microscopy quantifying the freezing damage based on the analysis of different parameters (number, area, perimeter, and shape factor of tissue particles) associated with carrot tissue damage. The reduced texture loss of rapidly or cryogenically frozen carrots, compared to slowly frozen samples, was associated with the reduction in cell wall damage in the carrot tissue. In case no pretreatment was used, carrot texture was only slightly improved by using high-pressure shift freezing instead of slow freezing. Detailed analysis of the different steps involved showed that severe tissue damage occurred during the completion of the high-pressure freezing process at atmospheric pressure. However, tissue damage, and thus texture loss, of high-pressure frozen carrots could be minimized by applying pretreatments consisting of a thermal treatment at 60 °C and a high-pressure treatment at 300 MPa and 60 °C.     

Study on the influence of freezing rate on lipid oxidation in fish (salmon) and chicken breast muscles

Chicken breast and salmon muscle were frozen either slowly or rapidly at –25°C, and then stored at –5°C for up to 83 and 47 days respectively. At intervals samples were thawed and TBA values measured on either muscle distillate or centrifugal exudates. TBA values increased slightly but significantly with storage time, but freezing rate had no effect.     

Effects of the methods of pre-treatment before freezing on the retention of chlorophylls in frozen leaf vegetables prepared for consumption

The investigation included kale, New Zealand spinach and spinach. The evaluation covered the raw material; the raw material after blanching; the raw material after cooking; and frozen products prepared for consumption after 0, 4, 8 and 12 months of refrigerated storage. Both the traditional method of freezing (blanching before freezing) and the modified method of freezing (cooked before freezing) were used in the experiment, as well as two storage temperatures, T = −20 °C and T = −30 °C. The content of chlorophylls in fresh kale was four times that in New Zealand spinach and 1.5 times that in spinach. With the exception of New Zealand spinach, blanching and cooking significantly reduced the content of chlorophylls. In kale products prepared for consumption, the content of chlorophylls decreased in each successive stage of the investigation. In products of New Zealand spinach and spinach, the losses were usually not significant. After 12 months of refrigerated storage, frozen kale products prepared for consumption retained 52–65% of total chlorophylls compared with the content in the raw material; products of New Zealand spinach and spinach retained 66–71%. In kale and New Zealand spinach, the content of chlorophyll a decreased more rapidly than that of chlorophyll b, while in spinach the converse was true. The kale products obtained using the modified method contained more chlorophylls, while in the two spinach species their content was lower. The lower storage temperature resulted in a higher retention of chlorophylls in vegetables.     

High-pressure shift freezing: recrystallization during storage

High-pressure shift freezing has been proposed as a method to produce frozen food with smaller ice crystal size and, consequently, with reduced tissular damage and higher overall quality. The fate of this initially improved crystal size distribution, decisive for the long-term value of this procedure, is unclear. The recrystallization behaviour of partially frozen aqueous solutions, as food models, is here compared with that of similar classically frozen samples. A microscopic observation cell has been specially designed for this purpose. The temporal evolution of high-pressure shift frozen ice crystals has been fitted to different mechanism models and is found to be similar within experimental error to that of classically frozen samples. However, differences in the shape evolution of crystals have been detected, which can be ascribed to small differences in the initial distribution. The implications of these observations for the long-term storage of frozen food are discussed.     

Influence of the frozen storage on some characteristics of ripened Manchego-type cheese manufactured with a powdered vegetable coagulant and rennet

A study was made of the effect of freezing and nine months’ frozen storage on the chemical, microbiological and sensorial characteristics of fully ripened Manchego-type cheese. Chemical components, water activity and nitrogen compounds were not altered by freezing and frozen storage. Soluble and non-protein nitrogen were significantly higher in cheeses produced with the powdered vegetable coagulant (PVC) compared to those made with rennet. Proteolysis continued slowly during frozen storage, with higher amino acid and ammonia nitrogen rates at the end of the storage period. Micrococci (P-value <0.05, in cheese made with PVC) and staphylococci counts tended to decrease during frozen storage; however total viable, lactic acid bacteria and mold-yeasts counts were similar throughout the nine months. Changes in sensorial parameters were observed (P-value <0.05) throughout freezing and frozen storage, affecting the creaminess of cheeses made with chymosin and the taste intensity and salty taste of cheese obtained with vegetable coagulant. Cheeses obtained with PVC proved to have a more acid taste and greater taste intensity (P < 0.01) as well as displaying a more bitter taste, greater creaminess and lower degree of hardness (P-value <0.001) than those produced with rennet.     

Effect of freezing on the viscoelastic behaviour of whey protein concentrate suspensions

The effect of freezing on viscoelastic behaviour of whey protein concentrate (WPC) suspensions was studied. Suspensions with total protein content of 5% and 9% w/v were prepared from a commercial WPC (unheated suspensions). A group of unheated suspensions was treated at two temperatures (72.5 and 77.5 °C) during selected times to obtain 60% of soluble protein aggregates (heat-treated suspensions). Unheated suspensions and heat-treated suspensions were frozen at −25 °C (frozen unheated and frozen heat-treated suspensions). Frequency sweeps (0.01–10 Hz) were performed in the region of linear viscoelasticity at 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 °C. Mechanical spectra of all studied suspensions at 20 °C were similar to viscoelastic fluids and complex viscosity increased with the frequency (ω). Elastic (G′) and viscous (G″) moduli were modelled using power law equations (G′ = aω^x, G″ = bω^y), using fitted parameters a, x, b, and y for statistical analysis. Exponent y was the most influenced by freezing, indicating the existence of a higher degree of arrangement in frozen unheated suspensions and a lower degree of arrangement in frozen heat-treated suspensions. Only characteristic relaxation times (inverse of the crossover frequency) of suspensions with 5% w/v of total protein content were significantly influenced by freezing. Time–temperature superposition was satisfactory applied in unheated whey protein concentrate suspensions only in the range of high temperatures (30–50 °C). However, this principle failed over the complete temperature range in most of the frozen suspensions. It is possible that freezing produced an increase in the susceptibility to morphological changes with temperature during the rheological measurements.     

Using power ultrasound to accelerate food freezing processes: Effects on freezing efficiency and food microstructure

Abstract

Freezing is an effective way of food preservation. However, traditional freezing methods have the disadvantages of low freezing efficiency and generation of large ice crystals, leading to possible damage of food quality. Power ultrasound assisted freezing as a novel technique can effectively reduce the adverse effects during freezing process. This paper gives an overview on recent researches of power ultrasound technique to accelerate the food freezing processes and illustrates the main principles of power ultrasound assisted freezing. The effects of power ultrasound on liquid food, model solid food as well as fruit and vegetables are discussed, respectively, from the aspects of increasing freezing rate and improving microstructure. It is shown that ultrasound assisted freezing can effectively improve the freezing efficiency and promote the formation of small and evenly distributed ice crystals, resulting in better food quality. Different inherent properties of food samples affect the effectiveness of ultrasound application and optimum ultrasound parameters depend on the nature of the samples. The application of ultrasound to the food industry is more likely on certain types of food products and more efforts are still needed to realize the industrial translation of laboratory results.     

Effects of pressure-shift freezing and conventional freezing on model food gels

Summary Gels of agar, starch, ovalbumin, gelatin and an industrial β-lactoglobulin protein isolate, were frozen conventionally in a −30 °C freezer and by pressure-shift freezing at 200 MPa at −15 °C. Thawing was carried out conventionally at 20 °C and by the application of a pressure of 200 MPa. The microscopic structure and mechanical properties of the thawed gels were compared with those of the initial gels. Microscopic examination showed that pressure-shift freezing produces smaller and more uniform ice crystal damage than conventional freezing at −30 °C. The results also suggest that the freeze-thaw behaviour of food gels can be categorized into two general types: (1) gels which have a reduced gel strength as a result of mechanical damage to the gel microstructure caused by ice crystal formation, and (2) gels which have an enhanced gel strength, as a result of molecular structural changes that take place in the frozen state. Agar and gelatin were found to be typical of type (1) gels, whereas starch, β-lactoglobulin protein isolate and ovalbumin were found to be typical of type (2) gels. In the case of starch, retrogradation during thawing was found to be the most important factor.     

发酵蔬菜中乳酸菌抑菌性的研究

乳酸菌(Lactic Acid Bacteria)是一类能发酵碳水化合物产生乳酸的细菌,他广泛应用于发酵食品中,是发酵蔬菜中的有益菌群。乳酸菌的抑菌功能是通过产生各种代谢产物包括酸性物质、二氧化碳、过氧化氢和细菌素等来实现的。通过分析发酵蔬菜中微生物菌群结构的组成,介绍了乳酸菌对病原菌和腐败菌的抑制作用特点及作用机理,旨在为乳酸菌制品的加工、储藏提供理论依据,更好地将乳酸菌这一益生菌应用于各类食品加工的实践操作中。     

发酵蔬菜中乳酸菌抑菌性的研究

乳酸菌（Lactic Acid Bacteria）是一类能发酵碳水化合物产生乳酸的细菌，他广泛应用于发酵食品中，是发酵蔬菜中的有益菌群。乳酸菌的抑菌功能是通过产生各种代谢产物包括酸性物质、二氧化碳、过氧化氢和细菌素等来实现的。通过分析发酵蔬菜中微生物菌群结构的组成，介绍了乳酸菌对病原菌和腐败菌的抑制作用特点及作用机理，旨在为乳酸菌制品的加工、储藏提供理论依据，更好地将乳酸菌这一益生菌应用于各类食品加工的实践操作中。     

On the stability of oil-in-water emulsions to freezing

Oil in water emulsions (40 wt%) were prepared from a homologous series of n-alkanes (C10–C18). The samples were temperature cycled in a differential scanning calorimeter (two cycles of 40 °C to −50 °C to 40 °C at 5 °C min⁻¹) and in bulk (to −20 °C). The emulsions destabilized and phase-separated after freeze–thaw if the droplets were solid at the same time as the continuous phase and were more unstable if a small molecule (SDS or polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate) rather than a protein (whey protein isolate or sodium caseinate) emulsifier was used. The unstable emulsions formed a self-supporting cryo-gel that persisted between the melting of the water and the melting of the hydrocarbon phase. Microscopy provides further evidence of a hydrocarbon continuous network formed during freezing by a mechanism related to partial coalescence which collapses during lipid melting to allow phase separation.     

四种苯甲酸检测方法比较研究

建立了高效液相色谱法(HPLC)、气相色谱法(GC)、差示扫描量热法(DSC)对苯甲酸进行定性和定量的分析方法。分析比较不同方法测定苯甲酸的含量差异,并对这3种方法的线性、重复性、检测限与定量限、溶液稳定性等进行比较研究。液相方法线性回归系数R2=1.0000,重复性RSD为0.04%,检测限为2.5ng/m L,溶液稳定性良好RSD为0.2%;气相方法线性回归系数R2=0.9990,重复性RSD为0.9%,检测限为16ng/m L,溶液稳定性良好RSD为1.7%;差示扫描量热法线性回归系数R2=0.9990,重复性RSD为0.43%。经过方法学验证,证明上述3种方法具有精密度高、灵敏度高、重现性好等特点,适合于苯甲酸含量的测定。通过与苯甲酸容量法测定的结果比较,结果表明上述4种方法测得的结果基本一致,上述四种方法各具特点,可满足不同检测需要。     

Effects of some technological processes on glucosinolate contents in cruciferous vegetables

Effects of blanching, boiling and freezing of selected cruciferous vegetables (Brussels sprouts, white and green cauliflower, broccoli, and curly cale) on their glucosinolate (GLS) contents were determined. It was found that blanching and cooking of the vegetables led to considerable (P < 0.05) losses of total GLS, from 2.7 to 30.0% and from 35.3 to 72.4%, respectively. No systematic changes in total GLS were found in the vegetables that were blanched and frozen for 48 h. In addition, the highest concentration of cancer-protective compounds, such as aliphatic and indole GLS, were found in Brussels sprouts (sinigrin and glucobrassicin) and in broccoli (glucoraphanin).     

Effects of blanching and storage conditions on soluble sugar contents in vegetable soybean

Vegetable soybean is becoming increasingly popular in the U.S. because of its rich source of isoflavones, folic acid, and other nutrients. The objective of this study was to investigate various blanching and storage conditions in order to identify the proper post-harvest management strategy in preserving sugar composition of vegetable soybean during storage. Fresh soybean pods of two vegetable soybean genotypes were stored at 4 °C for 30 days or 25 °C for 8-12 days in fresh air or nitrogen atmosphere. Shelled seeds and intact pods were blanched in boiling water or steamed at 100 °C for 10 min. All blanched soybean was stored at −20 °C and sampled monthly for 6 months for sugar analysis. Glucose, fructose and sucrose decreased gradually in fresh soybean when stored at 4 °C in air or nitrogen atmosphere for 28 days. Soybean stored at 25 °C in open air showed a rapid decrease of sucrose in the first 24 h, and then followed by a gradual increase; whereas oligosaccharides accumulated significantly during storage. Significant degradation in all sugars was found in soybean stored in nitrogen atmosphere at 25 °C. Soluble sugars decreased from leaching during the water blanching and cooling treatment of vegetable soybean seeds. Steam blanching and the presence of pod effectively retained soluble sugars in vegetable soybean during thermal treatment.