Untitled

Abstract

Functional foods are increasingly being accepted by the consumers due to rising demand for healthier food products. Generally, functional foods promote health and prevent diseases besides providing the basic function of supplying nutrients [1,2]. Infusion of compounds such as minerals [3], phenolic compounds [4,5] [20][21][22][23]. Application of high pressure treatment accelerated the diffusion of bioactive components into the solid food due to cell membranes permeabilisation resulting in decline in the resistance to infusion [24,25]. The application of high pressure pretreatment was described to increase the water and solute diffusion during osmotic dehydration of pineapples, potato, glutinous rice and turkey breast [26][27][28][29]. Sila et al.,[30] demonstrated that combined effect of high pressure treatment and CaCl 2 treatment improved the texture of carrots during thermal processing. High pressure-assisted infusion of pectin methyl esterase and calcium chloride in strawberry was shown to improve the firmness [13,31]. Mahadevan et al., [32] indicated that high pressure pretreatment increased infusion of quercetin by 3 times into cranberries as compared to untreated ones.Incorporation of synthetic antioxidants like Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) and Butylated Hydroxy Toluene (BHT) are restricted by legislative laws and regulations due to carcinogenic effects [33]. Therefore, there has been an increasing trend to use natural antioxidants over the synthetic ones. Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) is considered as one of the main source of antioxidants curcuminoids namely Curcumin, Demethoxycurcumin and Bisdemethoxycurcumin [34]. It can improve the visual appearance, delectableness and prolong the storage period of food products [35]. The recommended daily intake of curcuminoids is 0.1 mg/kg body weight [36]. Several biological activities have been also reported in turmeric such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-psoriatic, anti-diabetic, antibacterial, and anticancer properties [37][38][39][40][41][42]. Exhilarated with this idea of to develop pineapple slices with enhanced nutrition and color, it was opined desirable to infuse natural antioxidant (curcuminoids) to enhance the nutrition profile. The present study indicated that high pressure pretreatment enhanced the diffusion coefficients of curcuminoids in pineapple slices. The process could provide great opportunities for food manufacturers to develop value-added products similar to the fresh one and with enhanced nutritional and quality attributes.The main objectives of the present work were (i) to study the effect of high pressure treatment on the infusion of curcuminoids into pineapple slices, (ii) to determine the diffusivity of water, solute as well as curcuminoids, and (iii) to assess the possible improvement of mass transfer kinetics osmotic treatment due to high pressure treatment. Materials and Methods Raw materialsPineapples (Ananas comsus L. (Merr.)) were purchased from a local super market in Mysore and stored in cold storage rooms (4±1ºC and 90...