The quality and safety of food is an increasing concern for worldwide business. Non-destructive methods (NDM), as a means of assessment and instrumentation have created an esteemed value in sciences, especially in food industries. Currently, NDM are useful because they allow the simultaneous measurement of chemical and physical data from food without destruction of the substance. Additionally, NDM can obtain both quantitative and qualitative data at the same time without separate analyses. Recently, many studies on non-destructive detection measurements of agro-food products and final quality assessment of foods were reported. As a general statement, the future of using NDM for assessing the quality of food and agricultural products is bright; and it is possible to come up with interesting findings through development of more efficient and precise imaging systems like the machine vision technique. The present review aims to discuss the application of different non-destructive methods (NDM) for food quality and safety evaluation.

A conveyor-belt dryer was developed using a combined infrared and hot air heating system that can be used in the drying of fruits and vegetables. The drying system having two chambers was fitted with infrared radiation heaters and through-flow hot air was provided from a convective heating system. The system was designed to operate under either infrared radiation and cold air (IR-CA) settings of 2000 W/ m 2 with forced ambient air at 30°C and air flow of 0.6 m/s or combined infrared and hot air convection (IR-HA) dryer setting with infrared intensity set at 2000 W/m 2 and hot at 60°C being blown through the dryer at a velocity of 0.6 m/s or hot air convection (HA) at an air temperature of 60°C and air flow velocity 0.6 m/s but without infrared heating. Apple slices dried under the different dryer settings were evaluated for quality and energy requirements. It was found that drying of apple (Golden Delicious) slices took place in the falling rate drying period and no constant rate period of drying was observed under any of the test conditions. The IR-HA setting was 57.5 and 39.1 % faster than IR-CA and HA setting, respectively. Specific energy consumption was lower and thermal efficiency was higher for the IR-HA setting when compared to both IR-CA and HA settings. The rehydration ratio, shrinkage and colour properties of apples dried under IR-HA conditions were better than for either IR-CA or HA.

No abstract

The study aims to determine drying of sweet potatoes using multifrequency ultrasound (US) pretreatments (20, 40, and 60 kHz) at three different infrared (IR) drying temperatures (60, 70, and 80°C) and evaluate the phytochemical and textural quality of the dried product. Drying time was significantly decreased in moderate US frequency (40 kHz) at 70°C with the increasing drying temperature. Comparing to the fresh samples, the dried samples showed the highest amount of phytochemical contents. The antioxidant activity of the samples increased especially at 60 kHz and 80°C, while US‐IR treatments shown a positive impact on total carotenoids contents and β‐carotene. For phenolic compounds, Ellagic acid and Rutin were quantified in higher amount while Quercetin‐3‐rhamnoside and Quercetin 3‐β‐D‐glucoside were two new compounds identified for the first time in sweet potatoes. FTIR spectra showed the successful synthesis of OH group and phenolics in samples treated with the US at 20 kHz. Practical applications This study investigated the effects of multifrequency ultrasound with different infrared drying temperatures. The study provides evidence that infrared drying application in synergy with ultrasonic pretreatments can improve drying efficiency and food quality much better than using each method alone. Total phenolic contents and total flavonoid contents remained stable at US 40 kHz and 60°C conditions. The findings showed that moderate ultrasound frequency (40 kHz) at 60°C improved phytochemical properties while antioxidant activities showed better preservation response at 80°C with 60 kHz. In addition, the samples treated with the same US treatment at 40 kHz showed less cell breakage in SEM analysis.

Different ultrasound frequencies as pretreatments with different infrared drying temperatures were tested for drying of sweet potatoes to study the drying kinetics, mathematical modeling, energy activation, and thermodynamic properties of dried sweet potatoes. The treated samples showed a significant reduction in drying time by 110 to 60 min as compared to the control ones. Hii model, Page model, and Silva models found satisfactorily described the drying kinetics among 13 different tested mathematical models. The effective diffusion varied from 1.01 × 10 −06 to 9.21 × 10 −06 , while the lowest activation energy recorded as 24.69 kJ/mol in samples pretreated with 40 kHz. The enthalpy and Gibbs free energy decreased with the increase in drying temperature while entropy decreased and obtained as negative during drying. In addition, the moderate ultrasound frequency of 40 kHz positively and significantly (p < 0.05) influenced the surface color, enzyme inactivation, enzymatic browning, and microstructure of dried sweet potatoes. Practical applicationsThis study investigated the impact of sequential ultrasound (US) frequencies and infrared (IR) temperatures. The study provides significant evidence that the US in combination with IR not only reduces drying time but also improve the quality of the dry product on moderate US frequency. Higher US frequency (60 kHz) at higher temperature did not significantly improve the drying time but also showed big pores in SEM analysis.

No abstract

Cost-effective biomass drying is a key challenge for energy recovery from biomass by direct combustion, gasification, and pyrolysis. The aim of the present study was to optimize the process of biomass drying using hot air convection (HA), infrared (IR), and combined drying systems (IR-HA). The specific energy consumption (SEC) decreased significantly by increasing the drying temperature using convective drying, but higher air velocities increased the SEC. Similarly, increasing air velocity in the infrared dryer resulted in a significant increase in SEC. The lowest SEC was recorded at 7.8 MJ/kg at an air velocity of 0.5 m/s and an IR intensity of 0.30 W/cm2, while a maximum SEC (20.7 MJ/kg) was observed at 1.0 m/s and 0.15 W/cm2. However, a significant reduction in the SEC was noticed in the combined drying system. A minimum SEC of 3.8 MJ/kg was recorded using the combined infrared-hot air convection (IR-HA) drying system, which was 91.7% and 51.7% lower than convective and IR dryers, respectively. The present study suggested a combination of IR and hot air convection at 60 °C, 0.3 W/cm2 and 0.5 m/s as optimum conditions for efficient drying of biomass with a high water content.

No abstract