Advances in Food Science and Engineering

9

Authors: Klara Sjölin, Marilyn Rayner, Ingegerd Sjöholm, Jeanette Purhagen

Potatoes served in large-scale food service systems are often of poor quality. The current recommendation is to cook the potatoes until the core has reached a temperature of 96°C, but this recommendation is questionable. In this study, three potato varieties have been cooked by using conventional boiling (CB) to temperatures of 94°C and 96°C and steam cooking (SC) to temperatures of 92°C, 94°C and 96°C. The samples were thereafter analyzed by both texture and sensorial analyses. The results were evaluated with Partial Linear Squares Regression (PLSR). The perceived Softness and Cooking Degree from the sensorial analysis agreed with the hardness measured by the texture analyzer. The general impression of the samples showed that an undercooked tuber was preferable to an overcooked tuber, and that a cooking temperature of 96°C mostly resulted in overcooked tubers. The general impression depended on several parameters. Therefore, no optimal cooking temperature could be established.

10

Authors: Mohamd Ali Khan, Mahjabeen Siddiqui, Krishna Kumar Patel, P. Chaudhary

As exports of value added meat products are insignificant. Continue growing of poultry, buffalo, sheep and goat based meat processing industry has big opportunity. The growing number of fast food outlets in the domestic market also has had a significant impact on the meat processing industry. But, due to many preparatory steps and longer preparation time of traditional Indian meat based foods, the quality maintenance of meat based products is cause of concern. To avoid the burden of such processing steps and simultaneously to meet the demand, the ready-to-eat meat products have been found better option. Indian and overseas market of ready-to-eat meat products is, therefore, continuously on the growing stage. The present study, thus, focused on the shelf life enhancement of the ready-to-eat buffalo meat curry at ambient temperature and refrigerated storage condition. Considering the above goal, ready-to-eat buffalo meat curry were packed using heat sealing machine in retort pouches and stored at ambient temperature (37±1oC). Further, the quality of the products were evaluated by studying the microbiological characteristics including total plate count (TPC), yeast and mold (Y&M) count, Coliform count, Staphyloccous Salmonella, Shigella and lypolytic count and proteolytic count. The result of this study explored that the treated products were acceptable up-to 5 days of storage.

11

Authors: Analía V. Gómez, Atanu Biswas, Carmen C. Tadini, Megan Buttrum, Megan Buttrum, Huai N. Cheng

One of the common processes employed in food technology and preparation is the extraction of specific components from agro-based materials. Although many methodologies are known, continued improvements are still desirable. A recent new development is the use of natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) for extraction. In this work, we studied NADES/water combinations and found them to be viable alternatives to conventional solvents for extraction of polar ingredients in foods. The NADES/water solvents are eco-friendly, inexpensive, chemically inert, and biodegradable. Moreover, we found microwave heating to facilitate the preparation of NADES/water solvents. Selected NADES/water systems were characterized with respect to viscosity, refractive indices, electrical conductivity, water activity, and NMR. In addition, we utilized the microwave process to facilitate the extraction of sugars in a food product with a NADES/water system. The microwave process was found to be efficient, save time, and decrease energy usage. Thus, the combination of NADES/water/microwave is a versatile method that can provide improved extractions in food systems.