Green olives debittering assisted by ultrasound and pulsed-electric-field pretreatment for Brazilian table olive production: process and product evaluation

• Grant number: 24/20576-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: December 01, 2024
• End date: November 30, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Tiago Carregari Polachini
• Grantee: Vítor Mathias Muneratto
• 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 research grant: 24/03269-5 - PROValue: developing non-conventional processes for cascade valorization of fruits and their byproducts, AP.JP

Abstract

Because olives cultivation in Brazil and São Paulo state is growing, it is important to study new processing technologies to differentiate and to implement their commercialization. Compared to olive oil, green table olive production presents some challenging aspects regarding the high usage of NaOH in the debittering process and long processing time. Emerging technologies such as ultrasound (US) and pulsed-electric fields (PEFs) have been shown as potential sustainable alternatives for enhancing different mass transfer unit operations and for accelerating chemical reactions. However, this evaluation was not proposed yet for table olives. Thus, ultrasound-assisted process and PEF pretreatments will be applied to raw green olive during the debittering process. The kinetics of phenolic compounds degradation will be assessed as well as the effect of US and PEF on the subsequent operations of washing, brining and fermentation. The influence of the non-conventional technologies will be also analyzed regarding the quality (chemical, textural and sensory) properties of the produced table olives. The results can be useful for concretizing the olives cultivation by providing an enhanced production of Brazilian table olives with lower environmental impact and processing time.