| Grant number: | 14/11514-8 |
| Support Opportunities: | Regular Research Grants |
| Duration: | August 01, 2014 - July 31, 2016 |
| Field of knowledge: | Engineering - Chemical Engineering - Industrial Operations and Equipment for Chemical Engineering |
| Principal Investigator: | Maria Aparecida Mauro |
| Grantee: | Maria Aparecida Mauro |
| Host Institution: | Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil |
| Associated researchers: | Adriana Barbosa Santos ; Andrea Carla da Silva Barretto ; Eliana Morielle Versute ; Ellen Silva Lago Vanzela ; Mauricio Boscolo ; Natália Soares Janzantti ; Valmir Fadel |
Abstract
This work entails processing of plants with the aim of to develop technologies that contribute to the improvement of sensory and nutritional quality of dehydrated or minimally processed fruits and vegetables. For this, application of edible coatings, osmotic dehydration, conventional drying and foam-mat drying will be investigated. Determination of mass transfer of substances during process and storage, combined with a multianalytical approach, will detect physical and nutritional changes and relate them to the process variables.The proposed technologies are:- Addition of edible coatings for elaborating of minimally processed or dehydrated fruits and vegetables (guava, apple and carrots);- Enrichment of pieces of fruit through the osmotic dehydration or application of edible coatings (apple and guava) for the preparation of fruits and vegetables minimally processed or dehydrated- Drying of fruit pulp by foam-mat drying process (mango);- Evaluation of intermittency effects on drying kinetics, energy consumption and quality of the final product .Osmotic dehydration used to impregnate substances of interest or application of edible coatings over fruits and vegetables are being proposed as a pre-treatment for drying or as minimal processing in order to obtain dehydrated products with good quality. In the composition of coatings, adding of waste from the fruit itself will also be evaluated. Foam mat drying of fruit pulp is an alternative to conventional drying processes for the production of powder in order to develop cost-effective technologies that generate products with good nutritional and sensory characteristics.Process optimization will be based on nutrient retention, texture properties, color and preservation of the structure and in the case of powders, will also be evaluated solubility and dispersion. Factorial design will be used for optimization through response surface methodology and, if necessary, will be applied a desirability algorithm considering weights for the responses.Multianalytical approach will be used to evaluate the changes of the tissues and its effects on subsequent processing or storage. Analysis of retention of antioxidant substances during processing and storage will identify process parameters that improve the quality of final products. Fluorescence microscopy with vital dyes will permit to monitor the vitality of minimally processed plant tissues, along with measures of respiration rate. Optical microscopy with vital dyes will identify damages on tissues submitted to pre-processes. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance will permit to quantify changes in the profiles of carbohydrates, acids and phenolic compounds during storage of minimally processed products. Head-space gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-GC/MS) will be a powerful tool to evaluate effects of the processes and storage on volatile compounds profile of these products. Calorimetry and Scanning Microscopy analysis will characterize the powders. This set of analysis in combination with the responses will enable to determine the most appropriate process parameters to preserve the quality of the final product.The various proposals can be implemented in an integrated manner in a production unity, allowing reduction of food losses, since the foam-mat drying of vegetable waste resulting from other processes could be utilized for their preparation in powder form, as well as edible coatings composed of biopolymers mixed to pulp or fruit juice. Convective drying applying intermittency or different stepwise time-temperature will also be investigated, with the aim to save energy and maximize the nutritional content of these products. (AU)
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