DOE-NSF-NIH Workshop on Opportunities in THz Science, February 12-14, 2004

This is the report of the Workshop on Opportunities in THz Science, held on February 12-14, 2004 in Arlington, VA. This workshop brought together researchers who use or produce THz radiation for physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, and materials science to discuss new research opportunities and common resource needs. The charge from the sponsors of the workshop was to focus on basic science questions within these disciplines that have and can be answered using THz radiation

Modelling of vitamin C degradation during thermal and high pressure treatments of red fruit

Vitamin C is known for its potent antioxidant properties. Since humans lack one of the final enzymes in the biosynthesis of this vitamin, they are dependent on dietary sources for their vitamin C needs. Strawberries are good sources of vitamin C, but the vitamin is unstable during food processing, and high temperatures have shown to induce rapid degradation. As an alternative preservation technique, high-pressure processing is investigated for its potential to achieve pasteurisation and sterilisation conditions at lower process temperatures and shorter treatment times compared to thermal processing. The objective of the present study was to examine quantitatively the effect of processing on vitamin C in strawberry and raspberry matrices by comparing thermal treatments (80-140 °C) to treatments at 700 MPa (60 °C, 90 °C and 110 °C). To this end, a mechanistic model was proposed and tested to fit the degradation of ascorbic acid (AA) and the consecutive formation and degradation of dehydroascorbic acid (DHAA). AA degradation followed a biphasic course: the aerobic reaction was fast and most important, while the anaerobic reaction was slow and only perceptible at temperatures of 120 °C and up. The oxidation of AA to DHAA was slower than the subsequent degradation of DHAA in the strawberry matrix; the opposite was true in the raspberry matrix. Both temperature and pressure enhanced the degradation of vitamin C. The proposed mechanistic model provided reasonably good fits to the experimental data, only to a lesser extent for the DHAA evolution during high-pressure processing. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.status: publishe

Temperature uniformity mapping in a high pressure high temperature reactor using a temperature sensitive indicator

Recently, the first prototype ovomucoid-based pressure–temperature–time indicator (pTTI) for high pressure high temperature (HPHT) processing was described. However, for temperature uniformity mapping of high pressure (HP) vessels under HPHT sterilization conditions, this prototype needs to be optimized. To this end, this work aimed at the development of an ovomucoid-based indicator with combined pressure temperature dependent inactivation kinetics and a sufficient pressure temperature stability relevant for commercial HPHT sterilization. After varying buffer type and the pH at ambient pressure and temperature (pHi), an indicator based on 1 g/L ovomucoid in 0.1 M MES-NaOH buffer pHi 6.2 was selected. The inactivation behavior of this indicator system is characterized by pressure temperature dependent (combined Arrhenius–Eyring) first-order kinetics in the processing domain relevant for HPHT sterilization. This indicator showed good integrating properties under isobaric–isothermal and dynamic pressure temperature conditions. In a temperature uniformity study of a vertically oriented, pilot-scale HPHT vessel, pTTI readouts at different coordinates illustrated low and high temperature zones. As the inactivation of spores under HPHT is clearly positively temperature dependent, the food safety objective has to be verified in the former sampling zone

Temperature uniformity mapping in a high pressure high temperature reactor using a temperature sensitive indicator

Recently, the first prototype ovomucoid-based pressure–temperature–time indicator (pTTI) for high pressure high temperature (HPHT) processing was described. However, for temperature uniformity mapping of high pressure (HP) vessels under HPHT sterilization conditions, this prototype needs to be optimized. To this end, this work aimed at the development of an ovomucoid-based indicator with combined pressure temperature dependent inactivation kinetics and a sufficient pressure temperature stability relevant for commercial HPHT sterilization. After varying buffer type and the pH at ambient pressure and temperature (pHi), an indicator based on 1 g/L ovomucoid in 0.1 M MES-NaOH buffer pHi 6.2 was selected. The inactivation behavior of this indicator system is characterized by pressure temperature dependent (combined Arrhenius–Eyring) first-order kinetics in the processing domain relevant for HPHT sterilization. This indicator showed good integrating properties under isobaric–isothermal and dynamic pressure temperature conditions. In a temperature uniformity study of a vertically oriented, pilot-scale HPHT vessel, pTTI readouts at different coordinates illustrated low and high temperature zones. As the inactivation of spores under HPHT is clearly positively temperature dependent, the food safety objective has to be verified in the former sampling zone

Headspace fingerprinting as an untargeted approach to compare novel and traditional processing technologies: A case-study on orange juice pasteurisation

As a rule, previous studies have generally addressed the comparison of novel and traditional processing technologies by a targeted approach, in the sense that only the impact on specific quality attributes is investigated. By contrast, this work focused on an untargeted strategy, in order to take into account unexpected and unintended effects of (novel) processing, and to possibly uncover unknown compounds resulting from alternative processing. The potential of headspace GC–MS fingerprinting was explored as a tool to compare the impact of thermal, high pressure (HP) and pulsed electric field (PEF) processing for mild pasteurisation of orange juice. This study demonstrated that when processing conditions are selected based on equivalent microbial safety, the impact of heat, HP and PEF pasteurisation on the volatile profile of orange juice can be considered comparable. During refrigerated storage, however, indirect impact differences were revealed, which were attributed to differences in degree of enzyme inactivatio

Headspace fingerprinting as an untargeted approach to compare novel and traditional processing technologies: A case-study on orange juice pasteurisation

As a rule, previous studies have generally addressed the comparison of novel and traditional processing technologies by a targeted approach, in the sense that only the impact on specific quality attributes is investigated. By contrast, this work focused on an untargeted strategy, in order to take into account unexpected and unintended effects of (novel) processing, and to possibly uncover unknown compounds resulting from alternative processing. The potential of headspace GC–MS fingerprinting was explored as a tool to compare the impact of thermal, high pressure (HP) and pulsed electric field (PEF) processing for mild pasteurisation of orange juice. This study demonstrated that when processing conditions are selected based on equivalent microbial safety, the impact of heat, HP and PEF pasteurisation on the volatile profile of orange juice can be considered comparable. During refrigerated storage, however, indirect impact differences were revealed, which were attributed to differences in degree of enzyme inactivatio

Comparing equivalent thermal, high pressure and pulsed electric field processes for mild pasteurization of orange juice. Part I: Impact on overall quality attributes

Mild heat pasteurization, high pressure processing (HP) and pulsed electric field (PEF) processing of freshly squeezed orange juice were comparatively evaluated examining their impact on microbial load and quality parameters immediately after processing and during two months of storage. Microbial counts for treated juices were reduced beyond detectable levels immediately after processing and up to 2 months of refrigerated storage. Quality parameters such as pH, dry matter content and brix were not significantly different when comparing juices immediately after treatment and were, for all treatments, constant during storage time. Quality parameters related to pectinmethylesterase (PME) inactivation, like cloud stability and viscosity, were dependent on the specific treatments that were applied. Mild heat pasteurization was found to result in the most stable orange juice. Results for HP are nearly comparable to PEF except on cloud degradation, where a lower degradation rate was found for HP. For PEF, residual enzyme activity was clearly responsible for changes in viscosity and cloud stability during storage

Comparing equivalent thermal, high pressure and pulsed electric field processes for mild pasteurization of orange juice: Part II: Impact on specific chemical and biochemical quality parameters

The impact of thermal, high pressure (HP) and pulsed electric field (PEF) processing for mild pasteurization of orange juice was compared on a fair basis, using processing conditions leading to an equivalent degree of microbial inactivation. Examining the effect on specific chemical and biochemical quality parameters directly after treatment and during storage at 4 °C revealed only significant differences in residual enzyme activities. For pectin methylesterase inactivation, none of the treatments was able to cause a complete inactivation, although heat and HP pasteurization were the most effective in limiting the residual activity. Peroxidase was completely inactivated by heat pasteurization and was much less susceptible to HP and PEF. All other quality parameters investigated, including the sugar profile, the organic acid profile, bitter compounds, vitamin C (ascorbic acid and dehydroascorbic acid), the carotenoid profile, furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, experienced no significantly different impact from the three pasteurization techniques

Comparing equivalent thermal, high pressure and pulsed electric field processes for mild pasteurization of orange juice: Part II: Impact on specific chemical and biochemical quality parameters

The impact of thermal, high pressure (HP) and pulsed electric field (PEF) processing for mild pasteurization of orange juice was compared on a fair basis, using processing conditions leading to an equivalent degree of microbial inactivation. Examining the effect on specific chemical and biochemical quality parameters directly after treatment and during storage at 4 °C revealed only significant differences in residual enzyme activities. For pectin methylesterase inactivation, none of the treatments was able to cause a complete inactivation, although heat and HP pasteurization were the most effective in limiting the residual activity. Peroxidase was completely inactivated by heat pasteurization and was much less susceptible to HP and PEF. All other quality parameters investigated, including the sugar profile, the organic acid profile, bitter compounds, vitamin C (ascorbic acid and dehydroascorbic acid), the carotenoid profile, furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, experienced no significantly different impact from the three pasteurization techniques