Advances in Nonthermal

Processing of Food

Gustavo V. Barbosa-Cánovas
Center for Nonthermal Processing of Food
Pullman, Washington, USA
• CHALLENGES to FOOD
PROCESSORS
•Convenience foods • Foods for kids
•Long lasting foods • Foods for the undernourished
•Premium products • Special foods for the ill
•Ready-to-cook meals • Minimally processed foods
•Ready-to-eat foods • Finger foods
•Low fat foods • Space foods
•Low carbohydrate foods • Combat rations
 OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES

 Seek safe processes

 Optimize raw ingredient utilization
 Work on energy saving strategies
 Identify adequate technologies
 Find efficient ways to store raw
materials, semi finished and finished
food products
 Identify packaging approaches to
help in the marketing and
preservation of foods
Nonthermal technologies
 A growing success in food preservation
 New products in the market
 New processing applications
 Industrial adoption
 Larger equipment
 New regulations
 Body of knowledge
 EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
Nonthermal Thermal
High Hydrostatic Pressure Microwave
Pulsed electric fields Radiofrequency
Ultrasound Ohmic heating
Ultraviolet Induction heating
Irradiation
Cold Plasma
Dense Phase Carbon Dioxide
Ozone
Chemicals
New industrial opportunities through new technologies

Scientific Industrial
exploration involvement

NOVEL

TECHNOLOGY

Consumer Regulatory
acceptance approval
Dedicated Publications
 Innovative Food Science and Emerging
Technologies (IFSET). Elsevier Science.
 Several books
 Nonthermal Processing of Foods
 Novel Processing Technologies
 PEF book
 Ultrahigh Pressure Treatment of Foods
 IFT/ FDA Report
 NASA Report
Research Centers for New Technologies
 Examples:
 National Center for Food Safety and Technology (IIT,
FDA, Industry)
 Advanced Food Technology Center (OSU)
 Center for Nonthermal Processing of Food (WSU)
 Innovative Foods Centre (Australia)
 Parque de Nuevas Tecnologías (Girona, Spain)
 Stazione Sperimentale per l'Industria delle Conserve
Alimentari (Parma, Italy)
High Pressure Processing
HPP: New batch equipment

50 mL vessel 25 L vessel 215 L vessel

PT1 system, ELMHURST, Inc
Avure Technologies Avure Technologies

High Pressure Pump

More than 900 MPa
Larger units
Nicolas Correa – NC Hyperbaric
300 L vessel
Shock wave model

Avure Technologies
687 L vessel
HP semicontinuous systems
Recently released commercial UHP Products

Ham, chicken,
Dips and salsas Seafood products
turkey products

Specialty foods
Fruit juices and smoothies
High pressure as a sterilization process
 Combination of pressures (600-800 MPa) and
temperatures (60-90°C)
 Vegetative cell inactivation
 Bacterial spore inactivation
 Minimal thermal degradation
HP-35 L
 Foods with superior quality attributes Sterilization Unit

pressure
IMPROVED
QUALITY

temperature
Clostridium botulinum spore
HPTS: processing steps

Vac, pack & load Preheating

Cooling Unload Thermal pressurization

 Temperature profiles: HPTS and retort
Temperature (ºC) T HP Sterilization
Pressure on T Retort
120

100 Pressure off

80

60 Cooling

40
Transfer c/o
pressure vessel
20
Preheating

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Time (min)
Shorter processing times Lower temperature
February 27, 2009

HPTS has been accepted

by the FDA for
food sterilization
processes
HPTS: processing of eggs
Project objective: shelf stable egg products using HPTS
LINER

•Selection of egg product formulations

•Preheating studies
New carrier for MREs
•Packaging studies
•Equipment development
•Microbial challenge studies
•C. botulinum
•Microbial surrogates New control system
HPTS egg project partners
Academia Partners

Natick American
NCFST Soldier Center Egg Board

Combat Ration Network

Industrial Partners
THANK YOU!!!
Pulsed Electric Fields Processing
Development of PEF technology
Basic
Scientific
Lab-Scale PEF Food Issues 1960
Preservation Process

Scale-up and
Technical 1990
Pilot-Plant PEF Food Issues

Economic,
Commercialization of PEF- Legal, and 2005
Consumer
Issues
PEF Units

OSU-5B PEF pulse PEF Pulse Generator

WSU Processing generator Commercial system
Chamber Pilot System 400 – 2000 L/h
Industrial processing of fruit juices
 OSU-5: 200 L/h
 Juices
 Apple, strawberry, other
flavors
 PEF prevents loss of
flavor from thermal Genesis Juice Corp., Eugene, Oregon
pasteurization
 Shelf life: 4 weeks

OSU PEF commercial system

PEF in milk preservation

Potential Integration of PEF

72 L/h of Whole Fluid Milk
5 Pulses of 35 kV/cm (82 J/ml)
 Efficiency of Thermal Regeneration 71%
 65ºC for less than 10 s
PEF Consortium
 Evaluation of a commercial scale PEF plant

Participation of industry, government, academia

THANK YOU!!!
Ultrasound processing
Ultrasound processing: principle
 Energy generated from waves of 20,000 or more vibrations per
second
 high frequence or diagnostic (2-10 MHz)
 low frequence or power (20-100 kHz)

 Lyses and inactivates cells

 Intracelullar cavitation

 Variables to control:
 Temperature
 Amplitude of the ultrasonic wave
 Time of treatment
 Cycles US
bubbles microturbulences

Cell membrane damage

 Current ultrasound equipment

 Operating frequency: 20kHz

Ultrasonic processor Heilscher UIP 4000
 Pressure 1 bar
 Sonotrode material: titanium alloy WSU – Food Science Australia
Ultrasound technology applications
 degassing of liquid foods
 extraction
 enzyme/proteins
 herbal compounds
 sugars
 enzyme inactivation
 fat or sugar crystallization induction
 emulsification
 microbial inactivation
 Possible combination with antimicrobials, pressure and heat
Ultraviolet light processing
Ultraviolet light processing: principle
 Radiation at UV different
wavelength ranges
 Energies around 400 J/m2 in
all product
 Application in fluid foods

 Microbial inactivation
 chemical modifications
and cleavage of bacterial
DNA
Current UV Equipment
Co-Axial UV-Reactors Helix UV-Reactors

“Concentric Tube UV
Disinfection System”:
Infinity, Atlantic UV, Co.
 UV Light

Current UV Equipment

Helix UV-Reactors
Co-Axial UV-Reactors
UV applications
 Bacterial,mold reduction, pasteurization and
enzyme inactivation (PPO)
 Mainly fruit juices and nectars
Applejuice
Mango nectar

Current limitations: Intensity / Particles / Opaqueness

POTENTIAL RESEARCH FIELDS FOR IMPROVING THE
QUALITY OF PROCESSED FOOD

 Developing new thermal and

nonthermal technologies
 Combining nutrition studies
and nanoengineering to
encapsulate useful nutrients in
the processed food
 Predictive microbiology for
safer foods and optimum quality
 Designing environmentally
friendly (biodegradable) and
informative (intelligent) or active
packaging for processed food
The Future
 HPP, PEF
 More nonthermal applications for large consumer
groups
 Improved systems and reduced manufacturing/
machinery costs
 New pathways to commercialization
The Future
 HPTS
 C. botulinum inactivation conditions
 Roadmap for regulatory approval
 Improved systems
 Faster heating/cooling techniques
 Maximized heat retention
 Microbial inactivation/ heat transfer models
 Process performance parameters
 Innovative shelf stable products
 Applications: humanitarian, military, outdoors
The Future
 Ultrasound, UV
 Nonthermal applications for large consumer groups
 Microbial inactivation conditions
 Proven advantages with respect to thermal
technologies
 Combination with preservatives, heat, HP, HP-T
 Larger scale equipment

More opportunities through nonthermal technologies

Consumer acceptance

Innovative solutions
for specific needs

HPP smoothies, dips PEF juices, yogurt

Industrial involvement

Market niche identification

Product development Industrial adoption

Process scale up
Approval by regulatory agencies
 FDA/USDA new definition for “pasteurization”
 Extended to account for nonthermal technologies
 US National Advisory Committee on Microbiological
Criteria for Foods (NACMCF)
 USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service
 FDA
 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
 National Marine Fisheries Service
 Department of Defense Veterinary Service Activity
Approval by regulatory agencies
 Regulations in Europe
 Novel foods including products processed by HPP
 EC258/97

 ISO Food Safety Management System Standard

 ISO 22000:2005
Scientific exploration
 Creative thinking
 Food science and engineering principles applied in process
development
 Publications
 Patents
 Multidisciplinary projects
 Natick BAA
 CORANET
 USDA?
 Collaboration with industrial and governmental agencies
 Research funds
 Combined approaches
Heat Low pH Low T Antimicr Mod. CO2 HPP
obial Atm.

HPP
⌺⍯ ⌺⍯⍟ ⍟ ⌺⍯⍟ ⍟ ⌺⍯
HP-
USound ⌺⍯
PEF
⌺⍯ ⌺⍯⍟ ⍟ ⌺⍯⍟ ⌺⍯
Irradiaton
⌺⍯ ⍟ ⍟ ⌺⍯

⌺↑ lethality ⍯ ↓treatment intensity ⍟ Inhibits m.o. growth