Non-conventional Stabilization for Fruit and Vegetable Juices: Overview, Technological Constraints, and Energy Cost Comparison

Abstract

This study will provide an overview and a description of the most promising alternatives to conventional thermal treatments for juice stabilization, as well as a review of the literature data on fruit and vegetable juice processing in terms of three key parameters in juice production, which are microbial reduction, enzyme inactivation, and nutrient-compound retention. The alternatives taken into consideration in this work can be divided, according to the action mechanism upon which these are based, in non-conventional thermal treatments, among which microwave heating (MWH) and ohmic heating (OH), and non-thermal treatments, among which electrical treatments, i.e., pulsed electric fields (PEF), high-pressure processing (HPP), radiation treatments such as ultraviolet light (UVL) and high-intensity pulsed light (PL), and sonication (HIUS) treatment, and inert-gas treatments, i.e., the pressure change technology (PCT) and supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) treatments. For each technology, a list of the main critical process parameters (CPP), advantages (PROS), and disadvantages (CONS) will be provided. In addition, for the non-thermal technologies, a summary of the most relevant published result of their application on fruit and vegetable juices will be presented. On top of that, a comparison of typical specific working energy costs for the main effective and considered technologies will be reported in terms of KJ per kilograms of processed product.

Bioavailability and mechanisms of dietary polyphenols affected by non-thermal processing technology in fruits and vegetables

“…Table 3 summarizes the current studies on the energy cost of non-thermal processing technologies. The traditional thermal processing (397.54 kJ/kg) cost slightly more in total energy cost compared to HPP and PEF (339.94 kJ/kg and 301.81 kJ/kg, respectively) ( Vignali et al, 2022 ). Furthermore, CP incurred the lowest energy cost (87.78 kJ/kg) based on a 10g apple slice compared to other non-thermal processing techniques ( Ranjbar Nedamani and Hashemi, 2022 ).…”

Management strategies emphasizing advanced food processing approaches to mitigate food borne zoonotic pathogens in food system

“…Pressure change technology (PCT) and ultrashear technology are new advancements under HPP for the inactivation and stabilization of liquid foods. In PCT, 50 MPa pressure with inert gases is dissolved and diffused in the liquid medium to destroy the cell structure (Vignali et al, 2022). Ultrashear technology is a continuous flow process and can be which inactivates microbes and enhances the shelf-life, texture, and organoleptic properties of the processed product (Janahar et al, 2021).…”

The potential use of supercritical carbon dioxide in sugarcane juice processing

“…Therefore, the energy consumption involved in this technology is only due to product and inert gas pumping and compression. Vignali et al 10 stated a comparison of typical specific working energy costs for thermal and non-thermal treatments in terms of KJ per kilograms of processed product. Non-thermal approaches seem to offer the most effective alternative in terms of nutrients and fresh-like characteristics preservation as well as working energy costs saving.…”