Modelling volume change and deformation in food products/processes: An overview

Volume change and large deformation occur in different solid and semi-solid foods during processing, e.g., shrinkage of fruits and vegetables during drying and of meat during cooking, swelling of grains during hydration, and expansion of dough during baking and of snacks during extrusion and puffing. In addition, food is broken down during oral processing. Such phenomena are the result of complex and dynamic relationships between composition and structure of foods, and driving forces established by processes and operating conditions. In particular, water plays a key role as plasticizer, strongly influencing the state of amorphous materials via the glass transition and, thus, their mechanical properties. Therefore, it is important to improve the understanding about these complex phenomena and to develop useful prediction tools. For this aim, different modelling approaches have been applied in the food engineering field. The objective of this article is to provide a general (non-systematic) review of recent (2005–2021) and relevant works regarding the modelling and simulation of volume change and large deformation in various food products/processes. Empirical-and physics-based models are considered, as well as different driving forces for deformation, in order to identify common bottlenecks and challenges in food engineering applications.Fil: Purlis, Emmanuel. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Cevoli, Chiara. Università di Bologna; ItaliaFil: Fabbri, Angelo. Università di Bologna; Itali

ASSESSMENT OF THE TOTAL SOLIDS AND FAT CONTENTS IN WHOLE LIQUID EGG PRODUCTS BY ELECTRICAL AND THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY MEASUREMENTS

The total solids and fat contents of nine whole liquid egg products were assessed by means of electrical and thermal conductivity measurements. Linear correlations between conductivity values and total solids and fat contents were obtained with R2 values up to 0.995 and 0.990 and maximum errors of predic- 46 TABLE 6 - Linear regression models for the total solids (TS, %) and fat (FC, %) contents estimation from electrical (Ec, mS/cm) and thermal (Tc, W/mK) conductivity measurements. SE: Standard Error. Linear regression equation R2 p-level SE (%) TS=-6.857*Ec+65.373 0.995 0.000 0.27 FC=-4.993*Ec+40.070 0.985 0.000 0.33 TS=-172.967*Tc+109.605 0.992 0.000 0.33 FC=-126.449*Tc+72.521 0.990 0.000 0.27 tion up to 0.41% and 0.42%, respectively. The electrical conductivity of the albumen, yolk and egg mixtures linearly increased with temperature; at 20°C, temperature coefficients of 2.1%/°C, 2.1%/°C and 1.9 %/°C were respectively calculated. On the contrary, the thermal conductivity of the analysed products did not appear to be substantially influenced by the temperature of the liquid

Simulazione di processo: i numeri applicati agli alimenti

Il prodotto agricolo che diventa alimento, nel passaggio dalla fase di raccolta in campo, attraverso la successiva selezione ed eventuale trasformazione, fino a quella finale di confezionamento e distribuzione, incontra macchine ed impianti. In tale percorso dunque si evidenziano elementi tecnici di natura ingegneristica. Gli specifici problemi di progettazione di tali processi e delle macchine che li implementano coinvolgono diversi aspetti fisici e chimico-fisici, soprattutto di natura termica, meccanica, elettrica o fluidodinamica. Dunque assieme ai classici metodi di progettazione basati su bilanci di massa ed energia, integrati eventualmente con la realizzazione di prototipi o comunque con elementi di sperimentazione, è sempre più frequente l'integrazione con lo sviluppo di modelli matematici, capaci di simulare con una certa approssimazione, il processo in studio. Ciò è molto evidente nei settori industriali a maggiore marginalità ma, data la sempre maggiore disponibilità di mezzi hardware e software per il calcolo automatico, si osserva un crescente interesse anche nel settore dell'ingegneria agraria, testimoniato da una produzione scientifica internazionale in significativa e costante espansione. In tale contesto, lo scopo principale del presente lavoro è quello di presentare una rassegna dei modelli di simulazione di interesse agroalimentare, sviluppati in ambito DISTAL. Il modello, che costituisce la base della simulazione, consiste sostanzialmente in un insieme di equazioni differenziali, in grado di descrivere la geometria e la fisica del problema, risolto attraverso un metodo numerico. Tale modello può essere pensato come una rappresentazione, più o meno fedele, di un prototipo fisico, avendo però rispetto a quest’ultimo i seguenti vantaggi (V) e problemi (P): V1) è possibile una verifica o comunque un affinamento del progetto attraverso una procedura per tentativi successivi, con tempi e costi generalmente ridotti rispetto a quelli di una completa campagna di sperimentazione; V2) si dispone di una descrizione dettagliata e completa del processo, rendendo spesso possibile ottenere informazioni non osservabili per via sperimentale; P1) sussiste la necessità di personale specificamente formato. In tale ottica l’Università può giocare un ruolo importante; P2) i materiali biologici sono complessi e non sempre è possibile descriverne opportunamente la disomogeneità e l’anisotropia. Inoltre le loro proprietà fisiche (p.e. densità, conducibilità termica ed elettrica, calore specifico, viscosità, permeabilità, umidità, diffusività, composizione) possono variare ampiamente in funzione della temperatura, dell’umidità, della storia delle deformazioni, del tempo; P3) le geometrie sono spesso irregolari e difficili da descrivere

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF PHYSICAL SYSTEMS IN AGRI-FOOD ENGINEERING

In agri-food engineering many complex problems arise in plant and process design. Specifically the designer has to deal with fluid dynamics, thermal or mechanical problems, often characterized by physics coupling, non-linearity, irregular geometry, anisotropy and in definitive rather high complexity. In recent years, the ever growing availability of computational power at low cost, made these problems more often approached with numerical simulation techniques. Mainly in terms of finite elements and finite volumes. In this paper the fundamentals of numerical methods are briefly recalled and a discussion about their possibility of application in the food and agricultural engineering is developed

Numerical models of mass transfer during ripening and storage of salami

Ripening, in the dry sausages manufacturing process, has an influence over the main physical, chemical and microbiological transformations that take place inside these products and that define the final organoleptic properties of dry sausages. A number of study about the influence of ripening conditions on the main chemical and microbiological characteristics of dry sausages is available today. All these studies indicate that the final quality and safety standards achieved by the sausage manufacturing process can be considered to be strictly dependent from the specific ripening conditions. The water diffusion inside a seasoned sausage is surely an aspect of primary importance with regard to the quality of final product. As a consequence the aim of this research was to develop two parametric numerical models, concerning the moisture diffusion physics, describing salami ripening and storage. Mass transfer equations inside the sausage volume were numerically solved using a finite element technique. A first model describes diffusion phenomena occurring inside the salami and the exchange phenomena involving the surface of the product and the environment. After the ripening, the salami are stored in waterproof packaging, consequently an additional model able to describe also the evaporation and condensation phenomena occurring between the salami surface and the air in the package, was developed. The moisture equilibrium between salami surface and conservation atmosphere is mainly ruled by the temperature changes during storage. Both models allow to analyze the history of the moisture content inside the salami and are parametrised on product size and maturation/storage conditions. The models were experimentally validated, comparing the numerical outputs of the simulations with experimental data, showing a good agreement

Theoretical and experimental study on mechanical characterisation of a water drop impact on a solid surface

The drop impact phenomenon can be used to study many agricultural aspects related to the rainfall, runoff and irrigation, such as the stability of aggregated and the detachment of fine particles. The aim of this study was to study experimentally and numerically the water drop impact on a solid wall. In a first phase a simple experimental apparatus and basic theoretical concepts were used to investigate the influence of the drop speed on the impact pressure. In the second section, a finite element model able to reproduce the complex phenomenon observed in the experimental phase, was developed. The pressure values obtained by experimental measurement are similar to those calculated on the base of the energy conservation principle (average percentage difference of 15.6%). Numerical model was useful to obtain important information on pressure profile inside the drop and the impact pressure during the splash, at present hard to achieve experimentally. The model was used to estimate also an almost realistic dynamic behaviour of the spreading drop

Screening of grated cheese authenticity by nir spectroscopy

Parmigiano–Reggiano (PR) cheese is one of the oldest traditional cheeses produced in Europe, and it is still one of the most valuable Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) cheeses of Italy. The denomination of origin is extended to the grated cheese when manufactured exclusively from whole Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese wheels that respond to the production standard. The grated cheese must be matured for a period of at least 12 months and characterized by a rind content not over 18%. In this investigation the potential of near infrared spectroscopy (NIR), coupled to different statistical methods, were used to estimate the authenticity of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese PDO. Cheese samples were classified as: compliance PR, competitors, non-compliance PR (defected PR), and PR with rind content greater then 18%. NIR spectra were obtained using a spectrophotometer Vector 22/N (Bruker Optics, Milan, Italy) in the diffuse reflectance mode. Instrument was equipped with a rotating integrating sphere. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was conducted for an explorative spectra analysis, while the Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) were used to classify spectra, according to different cheese categories. Subsequently the rind percentage and month of ripening were estimated by a Partial Least Squares regression (PLS). Score plots of the PCA show a clear separation between compliance PR samples and the rest of the sample was observed. Competitors samples and the defected PR samples were grouped together. The classification performance for all sample classes, obtained by ANN analysis, was higher of 90%, in test set validation. Rind content and month of ripening were predicted by PLS a with a determination coefficient greater then 0.95 (test set). These results showed that the method can be suitable for a fast screening of grated cheese authenticity

Modelling Volume Change and Deformation in Food Products/Processes: An Overview

Volume change and large deformation occur in different solid and semi-solid foods during processing, e.g., shrinkage of fruits and vegetables during drying and of meat during cooking, swelling of grains during hydration, and expansion of dough during baking and of snacks during extrusion and puffing. In addition, food is broken down during oral processing. Such phenomena are the result of complex and dynamic relationships between composition and structure of foods, and driving forces established by processes and operating conditions. In particular, water plays a key role as plasticizer, strongly influencing the state of amorphous materials via the glass transition and, thus, their mechanical properties. Therefore, it is important to improve the understanding about these complex phenomena and to develop useful prediction tools. For this aim, different modelling approaches have been applied in the food engineering field. The objective of this article is to provide a general (non-systematic) review of recent (2005–2021) and relevant works regarding the modelling and simulation of volume change and large deformation in various food products/processes. Empiricaland physics-based models are considered, as well as different driving forces for deformation, in order to identify common bottlenecks and challenges in food engineering applications.Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimento

Effect of Non-thermal Atmospheric Plasma on Viability and Histamine-Producing Activity of Psychotrophic Bacteria in Mackerel Fillets

open5noNon-thermal atmospheric plasma (NTAP) has gained attention as a decontamination and shelf-life extension technology. In this study its effect on psychrotrophic histamine-producing bacteria (HPB) and histamine formation in fish stored at 0–5°C was evaluated. Mackerel filets were artificially inoculated with Morganella psychrotolerans and Photobacterium phosphoreum and exposed to NTAP to evaluate its effect on their viability and the histidine decarboxylase (HDC) activity in broth cultures and the accumulation of histamine in fish samples, stored on melting ice or at fridge temperature (5°C). NTAP treatment was made under wet conditions for 30 min, using a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor. The voltage output was characterized by a peak-to-peak value of 13.8 kV (fundamental frequency around 12.7 KHz). This treatment resulted in a significant reduction of the number of M. psychrotolerans and P. phosphoreum (≈3 log cfu/cm2) on skin samples that have been prewashed with surfactant (SDS) or SDS and lactic acid. A marked reduction of their histamine-producing potential was also observed in HDC broth incubated at either 20 or 5°C. Lower accumulation of histamine was observed in NTAP-treated mackerel filets that have been inoculated with M. psychrotolerans or P. phosphoreum and pre-washed with either normal saline or SDS solution (0.05% w/v) and stored at 5°C for 10 days. Mean histamine level in treated and control groups for the samples inoculated with either M. psychrotolerans or P. phosphoreum (≈5 log cfu/g) varied from 7 to 32 and from 49 to 66 μg/g, respectively. No synergistic effect of SDS was observed in the challenge test on meat samples. Any detectable amount of histamine was produced in the meat samples held at melting ice temperature (0–2°C) for 7 days. The effects of NTAP on the quality properties of mackerel’s filets were negligible, whereas its effect on the psychrotrophic HPB might be useful when time and environmental conditions are challenging for the cool-keeping capacity throughout the transport/storage period.openTrevisani M.; Cevoli C.; Ragni L.; Cecchini M.; Berardinelli A.Trevisani M.; Cevoli C.; Ragni L.; Cecchini M.; Berardinelli A