Applications of Ultrasonic Cutting in Food Processing

Abstract

With regard to cutting materials, such as bread, rye bread and cake, a lot of methods can be applied. This paper studies the method of ultrasonic cutting in food processing. There are four major components in the typical ultrasonic food cutting system. They are the power supply, the transducer, the booster and the cutting tool. We not only focus on cutting in food processing through comparing the principle of ultrasonic cutting with conventional cutting, but also address practical applications of ultrasonic cutting in food processing through the performance of ultrasonic cutting of bread, rye bread and cake. The results show that ultrasonic cutting can be applied to cut thin slice of food, which the conventional cutting cannot do. Moreover, in order to extend practical applications of ultrasonic cutting in food processing, a novel kinematic mechanism is proposed to satisfy motions of ultrasonic cutting equipment. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSTo evaluate ultrasonic cutting of foods, on the one hand, we have compared the principles of two methods, which are ultrasonic cutting of foods and conventional cutting of foods; on the other hand, we have investigated the performance of ultrasonic cutting of different materials, such as bread, rye bread and cake. The Results and Discussion section shows that ultrasonic cutting in the industry has not only general benefits and advantages, such as excellent cut surface, reduced crumbling, squeezing, debris and smearing, but also a special advantage, such as cutting thin slice, which cannot be realized by conventional cutting of foods. To extend applications of ultrasonic cutting in food processing, we have designed a novel kinematic mechanism of ultrasonic cutting equipment to demonstrate applications of ultrasonic cutting with intermittent motion.

Application of High-Intensity Ultrasound to Improve Food Processing Efficiency: A Review

“…Because of the increasing demand for an improved quality of food-cutting processes with high accuracy, excellent cut faces, reduced smearing, low product loss, less deformation, less tendency to shatter for brittle products, and the ability to handle sticky or brittle foods, ultrasonic cutting is becoming increasingly important [ 6 , 42 ]. Ultrasonic cutting is the size-reduction operation that utilizes the vibrating energy of the ultrasound, which superposes with the conventional blade movement, to improve the cutting efficiency and quality of the product [ 43 ].…”

“…An ultrasonic cutting machine is composed of an ultrasonic transducer, a power supply unit, a horn, and a cutting knife, as shown in Figure 2 . In the ultrasonic cutting mechanism, due to the high-frequency vibrations of the cutting blades, the food and cutter experience alternative contact and separation at a high deformation rate, though smaller deformations result in a reduced total cutting force and an avoidance of transversal cracks and crumbling, with a reduction of cutting-surface roughness [ 42 ].…”

“…The cutting mechanism is more effectively used for cutting viscoelastic and viscoplastic foods, fragile and frozen foods, as well as heterogeneous products. The quality of food cut by ultrasonics, and the cutting efficiency, depends on the geometry of the cutter, the direction of the vibration of the cutter relative to the cutting direction, the frequency and amplitude of the cutter, and the product’s properties, such as its microstructure, moisture or fat content, or temperature sensitivity [ 6 , 42 , 44 ].…”

Relating Food Engineering to Cooking and Gastronomy

“…Although cutting (shearing) has several engineering applications (Atkins, ), food engineers have been more concerned with size reduction of dry solids (milling) than of fresh high‐moisture material (Barbosa‐Cánovas et al., ). Water jets, lasers, and ultrasonic cutters are potential alternatives for precise sizing and cutting operations in culinary practice (Becker & Gray, ; Liu, Jia, Xu, & Li, ; Mizrahi et al., ).…”

Synergistic effects of ultrasound and microwave on the pumpkin slices qualities during ultrasound‐assisted microwave vacuum frying

“…Ultrasound, especially high-intensity (frequencies between 18 and 100 kHz), is widely applied in food processing, such as food fermentation (Ojha, Mason, O'Donnell, Kerry, & Tiwari, 2017), cutting (Liu, Jia, Xu, & Li, 2015), crystallization (Povey, 2017), food preservation (Demirdöven & Baysal, 2008), and drying (Musielak, Mierzwa, & Kroehnke, 2016). The purpose of applying high-intensity ultrasounds is to change the medium through which the waves propagate and improve the efficiency of food process (Musielak et al, 2016).…”