Smoothies marketed in Spain: are they complying with labeling legislation?

There is no legal definition of a smoothie, so the European legislation applicable to its labeling is that of fruit juice. The smoothie market has grown in recent years, as it can include a wide variety of ingredients: fruits, fruit purees, honey, milk and vegetable milks, vegetables, herbs, cereals, cereal flours, seaweed, and crushed ice. In this study, 57 smoothies were reviewed. All of them were purchased in supermarkets and classified into eight types according to the main ingredients. Fifteen legal statements/items were reviewed on the pack labels: eleven mandatory and three optional. Moreover, nutrition labels, nutritional claims, images, marks, and other symbols were also reviewed. Only 22.8% of the samples complied with EU and Spanish labeling legislation. More incorrectness was related to the name of the food and the fruits included as main ingredients; other errors related to the allergy/intolerance statements, and some nutritional claims concerning vitamin C were also detected to a lesser extent. General advice is provided for consumers to interpret smoothie labels correctly. Lawmakers should amend legislation to accept the term “smoothie” as a legal name

Benefits and limitations of food processing by high-pressure technologies: effects on functional compounds and abiotic contaminants

The continuing and worldwide growth of pressure processing technologies to pasteurize and sterilize foods justifies the need to study the effects on functional compounds and nonbiotic contaminants as affected by high pressure processing (HPP) and pressureassisted thermal processing (PATP). Substantially more research will be required to determine the complex effects of the food matrix on chemical reactions leading to losses of nutrients and functional components, production of toxic compounds, and to modifications of toxic residues of chemicals used in food production or coming from food contact materials. In PATP treatments, pressure can also increase, decrease or have no effect on the thermal degradation rate of these substances. HPP has no major negative and often beneficial effects on the retention of nutrients and functional components. However, information on PATP effects is very limited and additional research will be required before implementing this promising new technology.Keywords: polyphenols, pressure-assisted thermal processing (PATP), abiotic contaminants, antioxidants, food packaging plastic materials, heterocyclic aromatic amines (HCAs), acrylamide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), chloropropanols, vitamins, nonbiotic contaminants, pesticides, high-pressure processing (HPP

Green technologies for sustainable food production and preservation: high-pressure processing

In this chapter the preservation technology based on application of High Pressure Processing (HPP) into foods is going to be exposed. It can be considered a green and sustainable technology as it is not consuming more energy and water, comparing to the traditional techniques based on heat application. There are some Modalities of High Pressure (HP) technologies: HPP, HP to extract food components, High Pressure Homogenization (HPH) and HP for hyperbaric storage. In HHP processing suppress processing at mild temperatures (10–45 °C), considering their efficient applications in foods and food preparations. Moreover, the benefits such as microbial inactivation, effects on molds, yeasts and virus, no alterations of nutritive value and minimal sensory properties modifications (in color, taste, aroma and texture), within the main limitations: equipment cost and difficulties to inactivate spores will also be exposed. This chapter will cover the main advances in HPP for the last years. Legislative issues, consumer acceptance and applications in food industry will be briefly described and future perspectives will be pointed out

Retention of ascorbic acid, retinol, β-carotene, and α-tocopherol in milk subjected to Pressure-Assisted Thermal Processing (PATP)

Thermal treatments can cause undesirable sensory quality and nutritional changes in food, whereas high-quality retention has been widely reported for high-pressure processing (HPP). The aim of this study was to assess the retention of whole-fat milk vitamins after pressure-assisted thermal processing (PATP). The retention of ascorbic acid (AA), retinol, β-carotene, and α-tocopherol was determined by HPLC after 0.5 to 10 min treatments at 46 to 75 °C and 95 to 705 MPa. AA content was particularly sensitive to PATP treatments, particularly at 705 MPa and 75 °C for 5 min, reaching a loss of 55.1 ± 0.9%. Liposoluble vitamin losses were much lower than those observed for AA. For all treatments, retinol loss remained below 10.2 ± 1.7% and it was independent of the processing times tested (0.5, 5, and 10 min) for treatments at 400 MPa and 75 °C with losses of 6.3 ± 1.3, 6.1 ± 1.5, and 8.1 ± 3.2%, respectively. For PATP treatments at 75 °C, 5 min, and 95–705 MPa, α-tocopherol losses were minor and ranging from 5.0 ± 2.1 to 6.4 ± 0.6%. These values were similar to those observed after conventional thermal pasteurization. Low β-carotene losses were also observed at 75 °C for all PATP treatments with losses of −0.6 ± 2.9 to 4.4 ± 0.5% for 95–705 MPa/5 min and 2.4 ± 0.3 to 4.9 ± 2.1% for 400 MPa/0.5–10 min treatments. This study showed that in whole-fat milk subjected to PATP treatments, AA is significantly more sensitive than retinol, β-carotene, and α-tocopherol.Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED431E 2018/07Xunta de Galicia | Ref. 09TAL019383PRFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia | Ref. FCT UID/QUI/00062/2019Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia | Ref. UIDB/50006/202