Thermal food processing computation software

The objective of this research consisted of developing the two following thermal food processing software: “F-CALC” is software developed to carry out thermal process calculations based on the well-known Ball's formula method, and “OPT-PROx” is software for thermal food processing optimization based on variable retort temperature processing and global optimization technique. Time-temperature data loaded from Excel-file is used by “F-CALC” software to evaluate the heat penetration parameters jh and fh, as well as to compute process lethality for given process time or vice versa. The possibility of computing the process time and lethality for broken heating curves is included. The diversity of thermal food processing optimization problems with different objectives and required constraints are solvable by “OPT-PROx” software. The adaptive random search algorithm coupled with penalty functions approach, and the finite difference method with cubic spline approximation are utilized by “OPT-PROx” for simulation and optimization thermal food processes. The possibility of estimating the thermal diffusivity coefficient based on the mean squared error function minimization is included. The “OPT-PROx” software was successfully tested on the real thermal food processing problems, namely in the case of total process time minimization with a constraint for average and surface retentions the “OPT-PROx” demonstrates significant advantage over the traditional constant temperature processes in terms of process time and final product quality. The developed user friendly dialogue and used numerical procedures make the “F-CALC” and “OPT-PROx” software extremely useful for food scientists (research and education) and engineers (real thermal food process evaluation and optimization)

Evaluación del tratamiento térmico del langostino blanco (Litopenaeus vannamei) en conserva

En el mundo se elaboran conservas usando como medio de conservación el calor. La materia prima usada para la manufactura de conservas puede ser cosechada, capturada o beneficiada. El langostino ha sido capturado de las aguas de la región Tumbes de una langostinera obtenido mediante reproducción artificial. En el presente estudio se manufactura una conserva de langostino en una autoclave alcanzando la esterilidad comercial a temperatura de 121°C y 14,7 psig. Por lo tanto, el objetivo de esta investigación fue evaluar el tratamiento térmico del langostino blanco en conserva. Los cálculos se realizaron en Excel (Prueba t- estudent) encontrándose diferencia significativa entre el tiempo de proceso por el Método de Ball y el Método General. Los resultados de los valores F0 variaron desde 0,73 min a 5,16 min, y los valores C0 oscilaron entre 15,25 min a 66,70 min para el langostino blanco en conserva. Asimismo, los factores de penetración de calor fh (entre 7,94 a 24,1 min) y valores de jh (entre 0,66 a 2,65), y los tiempos de proceso del langostino blanco en conserva variaron entre 19 min a 52 min por el Método General y osciló entre 19,69 a 57,92 min por el método de Ball modificado para las conservas de langostinos en salmuera en vidrio esterilizadas en vapor de agua.Tesi

Evaluación del tratamiento térmico del langostino blanco (Litopenaeus vannamei) en conserva

En el mundo se elaboran conservas usando como medio de conservación el calor. La materia prima usada para la manufactura de conservas puede ser cosechada, capturada o beneficiada. El langostino ha sido capturado de las aguas de la región Tumbes de una langostinera obtenido mediante reproducción artificial. En el presente estudio se manufactura una conserva de langostino en una autoclave alcanzando la esterilidad comercial a temperatura de 121°C y 14,7 psig. Por lo tanto, el objetivo de esta investigación fue evaluar el tratamiento térmico del langostino blanco en conserva. Los cálculos se realizaron en Excel (Prueba t- estudent) encontrándose diferencia significativa entre el tiempo de proceso por el Método de Ball y el Método General. Los resultados de los valores F0 variaron desde 0,73 min a 5,16 min, y los valores C0 oscilaron entre 15,25 min a 66,70 min para el langostino blanco en conserva. Asimismo, los factores de penetración de calor fh (entre 7,94 a 24,1 min) y valores de jh (entre 0,66 a 2,65), y los tiempos de proceso del langostino blanco en conserva variaron entre 19 min a 52 min por el Método General y osciló entre 19,69 a 57,92 min por el método de Ball modificado para las conservas de langostinos en salmuera en vidrio esterilizadas en vapor de agua.Tesi

Quality and Safety of Meat Products

Food safety is a major problem around the world, both with regard to human suffering and with respect to economic costs. Scientific advances have increased our knowledge surrounding the nutritional characteristics of foods and their effects on health. This means that a large proportion of consumers are much more conscious with respect to what they eat and their demands for quality food. Food quality is a complex term that includes, in addition to safety, other intrinsic characteristics, such as appearance, color, texture and flavor, and also extrinsic characteristics, such as perception or involvement

Advances in Food Processing (Food Preservation, Food Safety, Quality and Manufacturing Processes)

This e-book aims to compile advances in the area of food manufacturing including packaging to address issues of food safety, quality, fraud, and how these processes (new or old) could affect the organoleptic characteristics of foods, with the aim to promote consumers’ satisfaction. Moreover, food supply issues are explored. New and improved technologies are employed in the area of food manufacturing to address consumer needs in terms of quality and safety. The issues of research and development should be taken into account seriously before launching a new product onto the market. Finally, food fraud and authenticity are very important issues, and the food industry should focus on addressing them

Desenvolvimento de alternativas tecnológicas para o processamento e conservação da carne de mexilhão

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Alimentos, Florianópolis, 2013.A comercialização dos mexilhões no Brasil é realizada principalmente como produto fresco, ou cozido (resfriado ou congelado), limitando a difusão e o beneficiamento deste molusco às regiões próximas à área de produção, uma vez que o mexilhão é muito perecível, necessitando de transporte rápido e refrigerado. Desta forma, pesquisas são necessárias para o desenvolvimento de processos alternativos que estendam a vida útil desse tipo de produtos, agregando valor e melhorando as condições de comercialização. Com este objetivo, no presente trabalho foram estudadas técnicas de conservação, como a salga e a marinação, o tratamento térmico em embalagens flexíveis termoesterilizáveis e a desidratação, aplicados à carne cozida de mexilhão. Na primeira etapa, realizou-se o tratamento da carne de mexilhão em salmouras e em salmouras com adição de ácido. Foram obtidas informações sobre o comportamento da carne de mexilhão quando submetida a diferentes concentrações de sal (5, 10, 15, 20 e 26 % m/m) e ácido acético (0,5, 2 e 6 % m/m) durante 24 horas de processo. Foi observado que os maiores ganhos de água foram obtidas com as salmouras com concentrações de 5 e 10 % de sal e as maiores perdas de água foram verificadas em salmouras com elevada concentração de sal ou com a presença de ácido acético na salmoura que apresentou um forte efeito desidratante. Foi possível ajustar modelos matemáticos empíricos aos dados de ganho de sal e ganho de água. Na segunda etapa do trabalho foi avaliada a possibilidade da utilização de embalagens flexíveis termoesterilizáveis para o desenvolvimento de uma conserva de carne de mexilhão. Nesse estudo foi avaliado o efeito da temperatura da autoclave no rendimento do produto e no valor de cozimento, sendo que a melhor condição encontrada foi na temperatura da autoclave de 118 °C e com um tempo total de processo de 57 min. Baseando-se nos resultados obtidos no primeiro estudo deste trabalho, a respeito de salga e marinação, foram adicionados sal e ácido acético aos produtos, avaliando-se o efeito destas substâncias durante um ano de armazenamento a 25 °C. O lote aditivado com sal mostrou melhor rendimento, embora não tenham sido observadas diferenças nos demais parâmetros físico-químicos avaliados. Na última etapa do trabalho, foi desenvolvido um aparato experimental que permite registrar a massa e a temperatura das amostras durante a liofilização, para diferentes condições de fornecimento de calor. As curvas de desidratação foram obtidas com a placa aquecida (suporte das amostras) nas temperaturas de 15, 30 e 40 °C e com o sistema de aquecimento desligado (temperaturaambiente). O sistema desenvolvido ofereceu uma boa reprodutibilidade nas condições estudadas. O ligeiro aquecimento do suporte (15 °C) apresentou-se como a melhor condição na liofilização de carne de mexilhão, sendo que causou um significativo incremento na taxa de secagem sem modificar as características visuais das amostras. Também foram avaliados os métodos de secagem a vácuo e convectiva e o efeito dos três diferentes métodos na capacidade de reidratação do produto seco. O produto liofilizado apresentou os melhores resultados, recuperando, durante a reidratação, mais de 90 % da água perdida durante a secagem.Abstract : In Brazil, mussels are mainly commercialized fresh or cooked (refrigerated or frozen). Since this product is a highly perishable food and needs refrigerated transport, the diffusion and processing of this mollusk are limited to coastal area. Investigations are necessary to develop alternative processes to extend the shelf life of this product, adding value and improving the commercialization conditions. With this aim, in this work, different conservation techniques of conservation of cooked mussel meat were studied, as the salting and the marination, the heat treatment in retort pouches and the dehydration. In a first step of this work, the pre-cooked mussel meat was treated in brine and marinades. Thus, data were obtained about the mussel meat behavior when submitted to different salt (5, 10, 15, 20, and 26 % w/w) and acetic acid (0, 5, 2, and 6 % w/w) concentrations during 24 hours of process. The highest water gains were obtained in brines at the concentrations of 5 and 10 % of salt and the highest water losses were obtained with high concentrations of salt or when the acetic acid was added to the brine. Moreover, it was possible to fit empiric mathematical models to the data of the salt and water gain. In the second part of this work, the possibility of using retort pouch to develop a conserve of mussel meat was evaluated. The retort temperature effect in the product yield and in the cook value was evaluated. The temperature of the retort of 118 °C resulted the best condition, with a total process time of 57 minutes. Based on the results obtained in a first study of this work about the salting and the marination, salt and acetic acid were added to the products, evaluating the effect of these substances during the one year on storage at 25 °C. The salted batch showed better yield during storage; although differences in the other physicochemical parameters evaluated have not been observed. In the last part of this work, an experimental equipment was built. This equipment allows the online monitoring of the weight and the temperature of the samples during the freeze drying process at different temperatures. The dehydration curves were obtained with the heated plate (sample holder plate) at 15, 30 e 40 °C and with the heating system switched off (room temperature). The developed system offered a good reproducibility at the studied conditions. The heating of the sample holder plate (15 °C) was the best condition in the freeze drying of the mussel meat, causing a significant increase in the drying rate without modifying the external aspect of the dried product. Other drying methods as the vacuum and the air drying were alsostudied. The rehydration capacity of the dried product was evaluated for all the drying methods and the best results were obtained with the freeze dried mussels that recovered during rehydration about 90 % of the water lost during drying

Determining Kinetic Parameters of Thiamine Degradation in Three NASA Spaceflight Foods in Thermal Processing and Long-Term Storage AND Methods for Analyzing Microstructure and Precipitant Development in Real and Model Wines

The current NASA spaceflight food program encompasses a wide variety of commercial and custom-made edible products. These foods are designed to ensure each crewmember receives the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of vitamins and minerals to maintain adequate health during the entire spaceflight mission. With the desire for long-duration and exploration-class missions, such as the impending mission to Mars, the retention of important nutrients such as labile vitamins in spaceflight foods is critically important. For this reason, multiple studies were conducted to determine the vitamin degradation behavior of thiamine (vitamin B1) within three spaceflight foods which demonstrated both significant presence and instability of this compound during shelf-stabilization and in storage for two years. All foods were produced based on NASA’s recipes and were either retort sterilized to an equivalent lethality (F0 of 6) or cooked and freeze-dried, then stored anaerobically in aluminized retort pouches. All food products were then stored at -80°C, -20°C, 4°C, 20°C, and 37°C. Vitamin retention was measured in all foods prior to and following thermal processing as well as at regular intervals in storage to discern the degradation kinetics of thiamine, which are assumed to follow a first-order, temperature-dependent trend. A novel and interactive kinetic modeling program, produced by our research group, was utilized to identify the two degradation parameters: decay rate constant at a given reference temperature or kTref, and temperature sensitivity term or cest, for vitamin B1 in each food matrix during thermal processing as well as during storage. In our studies, we revealed the degree of degradation of vitamin B1 in each food following various thermal processes and during two years in storage, including degradation observed in freeze-dried versions of each food product. These kinetic parameters can be utilized to track vitamin degradation over time in mission food storage and to produce optimum thermal processing conditions, preservation techniques, and storage parameters to achieve maximum stability of vitamins B1 in these food products