NON THERMAL

PROCESSING OF
FOOD.
INTRODUCTION.
Processing of foods without the
application of heat is termed as
the non-thermal processing.

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 WHY NON THERMAL PROCESING?

✘ The main problem with the thermal processing of food is loss of volatile
compounds, nutrients, and flavour.

✘ To overcome these problems non thermal methods came into food

industries to increase the production rate and profit.

✘ The non thermal processing is used for all foods for its better quality,
acceptance, and for its shelf life.

✘ The new processing techniques are mostly employed to the liquid packed
foods when compared to solid foods.
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 ✘ Since the non thermal methods are used for bulk quantities of
foods, these methods of food preservation are mainly used in
the large scale production.

✘ The cost of equipments used in the non thermal processing is

high when compared to equipments used in thermal processing.

✘ After minimising the investment costs of non thermal processing

methods, it can also be employed in small scale industries.

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 NON-THERMAL PROCESS ARE:-

✘ Ohmic Heating
✘ Microwave heating
✘ Radiofrequency heating
✘ Infrared heating
✘ High Pressure Processing
✘ Pulsed Electric Field
✘ Ultrasonic Pulsed Light Technology
✘ Pulsed X-rays Irradiation
✘ Oscillating Magnetic Field
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Osmotic dehydration

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 INTRODUCTION

✘ Osmotic dehydration is process of immersing cellular materials into a

concentrated solution for partial removal of water while increasing
the solid contents.

✘ The complex cellular structure, the cell wall and the surface of the
tissue acts as a semi-permeable surface.

✘ It is a low temperature process.

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 WHY OSMOTIC DEHYDRATION?

DEHYDRATION OSMOTIC DEHYDRATION

Sensorial properties are Sensorial properties are very
affected. good
Loss of flavour. Retention of fresh fruit
Huge nutrients loss. flavours.
Chance of physical Retention of nutrients.
contamination. No chance of
contamination.
Hence, for improved quality & Ready To Eat products osmodehydration is
the best choice!!!!
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 PRINCIPLE OF OSMOTIC DEHYDRATION.
✘ The underlying principle is that water diffuses from dilute
solution (Hypotonic solution) to concentrated solution
(Hypertonic solution) through a semi-permeable
membrane till equilibrium is established.

✘ The driving force for water removal is the concentration

gradient between the solution and the intracellular fluid.

✘ If the membrane is perfectly semi-permeable, solute is

unable to diffuse through the membrane into the cells.
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 OSMOSIS

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 MASS TRANSPORT DURING OSMOTIC DEHYDRATION.

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 Because there are more freely moving water molecules on the left,
more diffuse through the pores of the membrane from left to right
than from right to left. membrane water sugar solution.
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 FACTORS AFFECTING OSMOTIC DEHYDRATION.

✘ Type of osmotic agent.

✘ Concentration of the osmotic solution.
✘ Time of treatment .
✘ Temperature of the osmotic solution.
✘ Size and geometry of the material.
✘ Solution-to-material mass ratio.
✘ Level of agitation of the solution.
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 TYPE OF OSMOTIC AGENT

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 ✘ Concentration of the osmotic solution
High concentrations of solution and long osmotic times
increased the penetration depth of osmotic agents and
decreased the moisture content of samples.
✘ Time of treatment
The rate of both moisture loss and solids gain is the highest for
first 2 hour followed by progressively lower rates for the rest of
the time. Rapid loss of water in the beginning is due to the large
osmotic driving force between the fresh fruit and the
surrounding hypertonic solution

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 ✘ Temperature of the osmotic solution
 Higher process temperatures promote faster moisture loss
through better mass transfer characteristics on the surface due
to lower viscosity of the osmotic medium.
 However, above 45°C, enzymatic browning and flavour
deterioration begins to take place.
 The best processing temperature depends on type of food:
example, for green beans, 20°C gives better results, while 40°C
is too high a temperature.

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 ✘ Size and geometry of the material
 The surface area to volume ratio has been shown to be the
influencing factor with higher ratios favouring better osmotic
dehydration rates.
✘ Solution-to-material mass ratio
 As the solution to sample ratio increased, the osmosis rate
increased up to a certain level and then level off . The weight
ratio of solution to product most often used is between 4 and 10.
✘ Level of agitation of the solution
 The osmotic dehydration is faster when syrup is agitated. This is
because of reduced mass transfer resistance at the surface.
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 ENHANCEMENT OF OSMOTIC DEHYDRATION

✘ Application of microwave during osmotic

dehydration.

✘ Application of vacuum as a pre-treatment.

✘ Application of blanching as a pre-treatment.

✘ Application of high hydrostatic pressure as a

pre-treatment.
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 Application of blanching as a pre-treatment

✘ Hot water or steam blanching is a pre-treatment before osmotic

dehydration with the purpose of Enzyme inactivation.

✘ To promote gas removal from surfaces and intercellular spaces.

✘ Prevention of oxidation, discoloration, and off- flavour
development and microbial growth.

✘ Water blanching (85–100 °C) usually results in loss of nutrients

such as minerals and vitamins.

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 Application of high hydrostatic pressure as a
pre-treatment

✘ High-pressure treatments can be applied to liquid and solid foods, with

or without packaging, at pressures between 100 and 800 MPa.

✘ High pressures cause permeabilization of the cell structure leading to

the enhancement of mass transfer rates during osmotic dehydration.

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 ADVANTAGES

✘ Quality improvement in terms of colour, flavour and texture.

✘ Lower energy requirements.
✘ Packaging and distribution cost reduction.
✘ Retention of nutrients during storage.
✘ This provides better retention of volatile flavours and reduces
tissue damage compared with conventional air and sun drying
processes.
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 DISADVANTAGES

✘ The reduction in acidity level reduces the characteristic taste of

some products.

✘ This can overcome by adding fruit acid in the solution.

✘ Sugar coating is not desirable in some products and quick rinsing
in water may be necessary after the treatment.

✘ Osmotic dehydration with other combined processes such as

vacuum drying, air drying or blanching were found expensive.

24 ✘ It is a time taking process

 IMPACT OF OSMOTIC DEHYDRATION ON
TEXTURE AND COLOUR.

✘ During osmotic de-hydration, the viscous natures of fruits and

vegetables increase while their elasticity de- creases due to the
sugar uptake.

✘ Osmotic dehydration improves fruit quality by stabilizing color

parameters and allows less color loss of fruit by enzymatic
oxidative browning due to infusion of extensive sugars.

✘ This provides better retention of volatile flavours

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 ✘ Food applications of the osmotic dehydration
process provide a potential to apply energy
efficient procedures on an industrial scale.

✘ Osmotic dehydration has a tremendous market

potential for producing high quality food with
different variety.
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THANKS!
Any questions?

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