Fouling of complex food components onto food-processing materials affects food quality, food safety, and operating efficiency. Developments in nonfouling and fouling-release materials for biomedical and marine applications enable the potential for adaptation to food applications; however, challenges remain. The purpose of this review is to present different strategies to prevent fouling and/or facilitate foulant removal with a critical point of view for an application of such materials on food-processing surfaces. Nonfouling, self-cleaning, and amphiphilic materials are reviewed, including an explanation of the mechanism of action, as well as inherent limitations of each technology. Perspectives on future research directions for the design of food processing surfaces with antifouling and/or fouling release properties are provided.

The polymerization of aniline under continuous and pulsed RF-plasma conditions is studied using the same plasma reactor. The effects of input power, on and offtimes, frequency and duty cycle variations on the growth kinetics and on the chemical structure of the obtained layers are examined. The chemical structure of the films is characterized using Fourier Transform Infra-Red, X-ray photoelectron and UltraVioletVisible spectroscopies. The thickness of the films is determined by profilometry. The results show a strong dependence of film chemistry and deposition rates on the discharge power and on-time. The film deposited by pulsed plasma grows mainly during the plasmaon period. Furthermore, this work shows that the retention of aromatic rings can be evaluated by Fourier transform infrared analysis whereas oxidation degree of plasma polyaniline can be determined by X-ray photoelectron and UV-Vis spectroscopies.

A new convenient route to well-defined, low-polydispersity polyacids is reported that does not require protecting group chemistry. First, near-monodisperse hydroxylated polymers are synthesized via ATRP of either 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate, or glycerol monomethacrylate and then esterified using excess acid anhydride under mild conditions. For example, using a succinic anhydride/hydroxy group molar ratio of two in pyridine, essentially complete esterification of the hydroxy groups in poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) occurred within 48 h at 20 °C. Moreover, varying this molar ratio allows the final degree of esterification to be easily controlled. THF was examined as an alternative solvent, but a tertiary amine catalyst was required to achieve high degrees of esterification under these conditions. According to 1H NMR studies, the succinate ester bonds were susceptible to hydrolysis at or above pH 12 but were relatively stable at pH 2. Finally, a new poly(ethylene oxide)-based diblock copolymer was synthesized that dissolves molecularly at neutral pH but undergoes micellar self-assembly at low pH.