Novel Drying Technologies in Sustainable Food Production

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Engineering and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 February 2024) | Viewed by 3726

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
Interests: innovative food processing technologies; ultrasound technology; food safety engineering

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Guest Editor
College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro, NC, USA
Interests: encapsulation; dietary fiber

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Drying is one of the oldest and most widely employed methods for food preservation. The primary function of food drying is to remove the moisture content, thereby inhibiting the growth of spoilage-causing bacteria, extending the shelf-life, and reducing the weight and volume of the product, thus making it easier and more cost-effective to transport and store. Traditional drying is an energy-intensive thermal operation; it requires the input of heat into the product to remove moisture in the form of vapor. The heating process in drying, however, has become a major issue for heat-sensitive products, such as foods, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals. The excessive heating of foods in drying, for instance, triggers and accelerates many kinds of quality degradation reactions, e.g., a loss of vitamin C. More significantly, traditional drying operations heavily rely on fossil fuels for heat generation, thus contributing substantially to carbon emissions. Over the years, a number of drying process intensification strategies have been developed to address the dual challenge of slow drying and quality degradation in food.

This Special Issue aims to focus on recent developments and applications of emerging thermal technologies (ultrasound, microwave, ohmic, infrared, etc.) and their combinations in the drying of foods and food ingredients. In addition, articles investigating all the fundamental aspects of drying, as well as strategies to minimize the negative impact of thermal drying, are also welcomed.

Prof. Dr. Hao Feng
Dr. Guibing Chen
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • innovative drying technology
  • pretreatment
  • physical properties
  • nutritional quality
  • by-products
  • bioactive compounds
  • energy consumption
  • thermal technologies

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 2953 KiB  
Article
Influence of Different Drying Processes on the Chemical and Texture Profile of Cucurbita maxima Pulp
by Antonela Ninčević Grassino, Sven Karlović, Lea Šošo, Filip Dujmić, Marija Badanjak Sabolović, Marko Marelja and Mladen Brnčić
Foods 2024, 13(4), 520; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13040520 - 8 Feb 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1420
Abstract
The effects of hot air (HAD), vacuum (VAD) and conductive (CD) drying on the chemical and textural profiles of Cucurbita maxima pulp were investigated to find suitable drying conditions to avoid postharvest losses of pumpkin. The results showed that the drying methods had a [...] Read more.
The effects of hot air (HAD), vacuum (VAD) and conductive (CD) drying on the chemical and textural profiles of Cucurbita maxima pulp were investigated to find suitable drying conditions to avoid postharvest losses of pumpkin. The results showed that the drying methods had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on the chemical and textural profiles of pumpkin pulp. The ash content was lower in VAD (up to 7.65%) than in HAD (up to 9.88%) and CD pulp (up to 9.21%). The samples of HAD, CD and VAD had a higher fat content, up to 3.07, 2.66 and 2.51%, respectively, than fresh pulp (1.55%). The total fibre content is lower for VAD (up to 8.78%) than for HAD (up to 15.43%) and CD pulp (13.94%). HAD pulp at 70 °C (~15.51%) and VAD and CD pulp processed between 50 and 60 °C (~22%) are good sources of protein. HAD and CD pulp at 70 °C and VAD at 50 °C resulted in a high sugar content (up to 83.23%). In addition to drying, the extraction time of 40 min used in ultrasound-assisted extraction is optimal, especially for protein and sugar recovery in dried samples. Drying also led to strong changes in the textural properties of the pulp, so that an excellent dried intermediate product is the one obtained using HAD at a temperature of 70 °C and an airflow of 0.5 m/s. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Drying Technologies in Sustainable Food Production)
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15 pages, 1965 KiB  
Article
Investigating the Role Played by Osmotic Pressure Difference in Osmotic Dehydration: Interactions between Apple Slices and Binary and Multi-Component Osmotic Systems
by Xiaojuan Wang and Hao Feng
Foods 2023, 12(17), 3179; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12173179 - 24 Aug 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1758
Abstract
This study was performed to investigate a strategy to interpret the osmotic dehydration (OD) process through a focused exploration of osmotic pressure dynamics. The investigation first delved into the relationship between dehydration rate and the osmotic pressure difference between food and an osmotic [...] Read more.
This study was performed to investigate a strategy to interpret the osmotic dehydration (OD) process through a focused exploration of osmotic pressure dynamics. The investigation first delved into the relationship between dehydration rate and the osmotic pressure difference between food and an osmotic solution. Apple slices was used as a model food material, and the OD process was conducted via sucrose, glucose, and maltose. The positive correlation between the osmotic pressure difference between food and osmotic solution and the dehydration rate suggested that this pressure difference served as the primary driving force for mass transfer within the OD process; for example, in 60% wt sucrose solution, the osmotic pressure of the solution decreased from 15.60 MPa to 12.98 MPa in the first 30 min, while the osmotic pressure of fresh apple slices increased from 1.49 MPa to 4.05 MPa; and this correlation between dehydration rate and osmotic pressure difference in product tissue and osmotic solution followed a linear relationship. Then, the study went further to investigate augmenting osmotic pressure of osmotic solution (sucrose and fructose) by adding auxiliary solutes (sodium chloride and calcium lactate). The results showcased that augmenting osmotic pressure within a sugar-based solution could be realized through the introduction of additive solutes, and what is more important is that this augmentation displayed a synergistic effect, which was more pronounced in solutions of lower sugar concentration. For example, the osmotic pressure of 45%wt fructose solution was 8.88 MPa, which could be increased to 10.05 MPa by adding 0.075% wt NaCl, while adding 0.075% wt NaCl to 59.14% wt fructose solution could increase osmotic pressure from 20.57 MPa to 21.22 MPa. In essence, this study proposed a strategic approach to studying the OD process by spotlighting osmotic pressure as a pivotal factor. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Drying Technologies in Sustainable Food Production)
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