Abstract
The food industry has made large investments in processing facilities relying mostly on conventional thermal processing technologies with well-established reliability and efficacy. These techniques have important disadvantages such as off flavors, destruction of nutrients, and other losses of product quality. Non thermal processing is a key factor for preserving or improving the nutritional value of food, and high pressure homogenization (HPH) processing is now a celebrated option experiencing worldwide commercial growth. Notwithstanding, little is known on the impact of HPH treatments on the nutritional value of food. In this study we have evaluated the possible modification induced by HPH treatment in egg-yogurt, mixed vegetable, and mixed fruit creams. Our results evidence that HPH does not affect the nutritional quality of lipids and does not cause lipolysis, lipid peroxidation and vitamin E loss. In plant food products, HPH preserved or improved the nutritional quality, suggesting its use as valid alternative to thermal pasteurization for obtaining high quality products with preserved nutritional characteristics. Although further investigations are needed, especially at extreme pressure and temperature combinations, our results open new perspectives for the production of ambient stable products with good nutritional value, and contribute to process optimization.
Highlights
It is well known that thermal processing generally applied for extending shelf life of food products can affect food nutritional value due to nutrient and bioactive sensitivity to heat
In this study we have evaluated the high pressure homogenization (HPH) induced nutritional modifications occurring in: 1) an egg-yogurt cream (EYC) formulated with different NaCl concentrations; 2) a mixed vegetable cream (MVC); and 3) a mixed fruit cream (MFC)
Despite the presence of some studies evaluating the effect of HPH processing on foods of animal origin such as meat, milk and dairy products [16], little is known about eggs and egg creams
Summary
It is well known that thermal processing generally applied for extending shelf life of food products can affect food nutritional value due to nutrient and bioactive sensitivity to heat. Lipid oxidation is one of the major degradative processes in food; it results in significant generation of cytotoxic compounds and free radicals which can oxidize vitamins, impairing the nutritional quality [1]. Food composition tables are representative of foodstuffs consumed in their raw state, and they do not consider that concentration, availability, and biological activity of nutrients may be changed by processing. Due to the relative instability of many compounds, thermal processing can profoundly affect the nutritional value of vegetables [2] which contain many nutritional and healthful constituents, including minerals, vitamins, dietary fibers, and phytochemicals, and are considered to be the major contributors of antioxidant dietary intake [3]
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