Food Marketing & Technology - India June 2019 | Page 40

Processing
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES
BY: AMAL KUMAR, * MANOJ KUMAR MAHAWAR ** AND KIRTI JALGAONKAR **
P
ost-harvest loss of fruits and
vegetables are estimated to
be approx 5 to 30 percent
in the supply chain from harvest
to consumption due to lack of
infrastructure
for
postharvest
management, processing and value-
added techniques. Modern lifestyles
and diets have prompted the human
to adequately store a variety of fruits
and vegetables, influenced on the
development and implementation
of many methods and procedures
for preservation. Valorisation by
adopting recent and improved
processing technologies provides
a great opportunity for the growth
and development of the food sector.
Value addition refers to the process
of changing or transforming a
product from its original state to a
more valuable state and it provides
more variety to consumers with the
improvement in the organoleptic
properties. Traditional methods of
value addition through preservation
include: canning; drying/dehydration;
preserves; freezing; preparation of
intermediate moisture foods; beverages
(fermented, carbonated); and juice
powder using established standard
techniques. There is a recent trend
of valorisation through packaging
and also using novel thermal (ohmic
heating, microwave heating, radio
frequency heating) and non-thermal
(pulsed electric fields, high-pressure
processing, ultrasound, and gamma
radiation) processing technologies
for
preservation.
Technological
procedures of processing of fruit and
vegetables can be classified into a few
processing methods:
Traditional Processing Methods:
Drying,
concentrating,
heating
(cooking, baking, frying) cooling, use of
additives - preservatives, acidification,
fermentation;
Improved
Traditional
Methods
of Processing: The application of
increased temperatures (sterilization,
pasteurization), the application of low
temperature (cooling, freezing), aseptic
packaging, controlled atmosphere,
freeze-drying, microfiltration and
membrane
processes,
modified
atmosphere packaging
New
Methods:
High
voltage
pulse
techniques,
photodynamic
inactivation, microwave processing
– heating, high-pressure treatment,
ionizing radiation, heating of electrical
resistance effect and induction.
This article includes the overview and
applications of important techniques
viz.
high-pressure
processing,
pulsed electric field, ohmic heating,
irradiation technology, radio frequency
identification, intelligence packaging
for fruits and vegetables. Proper
adoption of these novel techniques will
help in increasing the shelf life in a way
that the availability can also be assured
during the offseason.
Cold Plasma Technology: Cold plasma
is an emerging technology and it could
be an alternative to commonly used
agents, in order to decontaminate fruits
and vegetables. Plasma processing
is capable of reducing microbial
populations on produce surfaces. This
Food Marketing & Technology
40
June 2019
technique is very useful for microbial
decontamination of food products,
packaging
material
processing
(to remove all unwanted organic
contaminants,
surface
treatment,
adding desired new qualities, etc.),
and functionality modification of food
materials. As of now, there was no mild
surface decontamination technology
available for products like cut fruits
and vegetables and fresh meat, and
this cold plasma can be safely used
for these applications. All in all, cold
plasma technology has potential in
food decontamination by removing
food-borne microbes.
High Pressure Processing: It is
a non-thermal food preservation
method used to inactivate pathogenic
microorganism with minimal heat
treatment,
resulting
in
almost
complete retention of nutritional and
sensory characteristics of fresh food
without sacrificing the shelf life. In this
process, foods are treated under high
pressure (100 to 800 MPa) by placing
them in a medium, usually water in a
thick-walled vessel and compressing
the medium leading in the extension
of the shelf life of processed food with
retention of nutritional attributes. This
method is mainly applicable for fruits
and vegetables, jam, jellies, preserves,
uncooked seafood, wet salads, purees,
sauces, smoothies, chunks, slices, etc.
Pulse Electric Field: The pulsed electric
field is a novel technique capable