Design of non-thermal stabilization processes of nutraceutical beverage using pulsed electric field technology

• Grant number: 23/04223-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: May 01, 2023
• End date: October 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering - Chemical Process Industries
• Principal Investigator: Eric Keven Silva
• Grantee: Iuri Procópio Castro Brito
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos (FEA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 20/11255-3 - Pulsed electric field: design of non-thermal processes, functional foods and biomaterials, AP.JP

Abstract

The development of non-thermal food stabilization processes together with innovation in the formulation of functional products has been the current challenge for the food industrialization sector. Conventional thermal processes are being questioned by the modern consumer market due to the negative impacts they promote on the nutritional and sensory quality of foods. In this context, one of the major technical problems associated with the industrialization of fruit-based beverages refers to the thermal pasteurization process applied to stabilize the food through the inactivation of pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms and enzymes responsible for the loss of product quality. Severe thermal treatments promote the deterioration of thermosensitive compounds responsible for nutritional and functional attributes, such as vitamins and phenolic compounds, in addition to modifying sensory characteristics, through the formation of off-flavors, and degrading natural colorings. In this sense, the development of new non-thermal food stabilization processes, which allow microbial and enzymatic inactivation while preserving bioactive compounds, nutritional and sensory properties, is one of the greatest demands today. Therefore, this project aims to design non-thermal processes based on pulsed electric field (PEF) and ultrasound (high-intensity ultrasound: HIUS) technologies using intensification approaches and process integration to optimize stabilization of a nutraceutical beverage obtained from pomegranate juice (Punica granatum L.) and its seed oil, rich in conjugated linolenic acids, such as punicic and cathalpic acids, which have anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, anticancer and anti-inflammatory properties.