Hassan Sabbaghi; Aman Mohammad Ziaiifar; Mahdi Kashani-Nejad
Abstract
In this research, stepwise cooking and temperature fuzzy controller were designed during the infrared irradiation of apple with intermittent heating method. For this purpose, the dry blanching process and dehydration of apple slices were examined at three temperatures of 70, 75 and 80 °C based on ...
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In this research, stepwise cooking and temperature fuzzy controller were designed during the infrared irradiation of apple with intermittent heating method. For this purpose, the dry blanching process and dehydration of apple slices were examined at three temperatures of 70, 75 and 80 °C based on the blanching speed and vitamin C preservation. The fuzzy controller of the temperature with the feedback loop was designed, simulated, and implemented by comparing two first and second order transfer functions in MATLAB software. Simulation efficiency was examined using the indices of integral squared error (ISE), integral absolute error (IAE), integral time-weighted absolute error (ITAE) and steady state error (ess). The results revealed that the temperature of 80 °C and time of 15 minutes were appropriate for blanching operation and temperature of 70 °C was appropriate for dehydration. The simulation results confirmed that the higher order of the transfer function led into a faster response, but increase in oscillations and reduction in the stability were not appropriate. For the first-order transfer function, the values of efficiency indices, including (ISE), (IAE) and (ITAE) were calculated to be 0.760, 0.821 and 0.589, respectively, of second-order transfer function. The simulation indicated the reliability of the fuzzy control model and showed an acceptable computational efficiency, since the fuzzy rule test during simulation showed a high sensitivity to maintain steady state error (ess) close to zero.
Sara Aghajanzadeh Suraki; Aman Mohammad Ziaiifar; Mahdi Kashani-Nejad; Abas Rezaei Asl
Abstract
Introduction: Tomato consumption is recommended due to its brilliant color, amazing taste, high antioxidants and vitamins content. Pectin methylesterase (PME) is known as a pasteurization index in tomato juice. This enzyme plays important roles in cloud stability, color, viscosity and organoleptic properties ...
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Introduction: Tomato consumption is recommended due to its brilliant color, amazing taste, high antioxidants and vitamins content. Pectin methylesterase (PME) is known as a pasteurization index in tomato juice. This enzyme plays important roles in cloud stability, color, viscosity and organoleptic properties of the juice. PME induces the cloud loss in the juice due to the formation of the insoluble calcium pectate; its inactivation is therefore needed to maintain the juice stability. Degradation of ascorbic acid (AA) in the juice is considered as a major challenge during thermal food processing procedures. Furthermore, during its degradation non enzymatic browning occurs, affecting the taste and color. Novel juice processing methods such as infrared (IR) heating and pulsed electric field (PEF) reduce the adverse effects of the conventional thermal method. Quick IR heating produces a juice having higher nutritional value and better quality. During PEF processing, the juice is subjected to high voltage electric pulses for a few microseconds to inactivate target microorganisms and enzymes. Considering the protein structure of the PME, PEF processing at a higher temperature can be effective in this enzyme inactivation. A quick pre-heating of the juice using IR heating was therefore applied in this study. Furthermore, the ohmic heating, occurring during PEF treatment, was not prevented. The synergistic effect of thermal treatment and a non-thermal one (continuous PEF system) on some physicochemical properties of tomato juice were investigated.
Materials and methods: Tomato juice, with an initial temperature of 30℃, was firstly preheated using a continuous IR heating system. During the IR treatment, a temperature controller was applied to set the outlet temperature of the juice to 40, 45 and 50℃. The preheated juice was then passed through a continuous PEF system. The process chamber of the PEF system consists of two parallel stainless steel electrodes with 0.55 mm distance. The length and width of the exposed electrode surface were 10 mm and 0.5 mm, respectively. A square-wave bipolar pulse with a width of 1 ms was selected to perform the treatment within the range of 22.73 to 36.36 kV/cm at 32 Hz. The outlet temperature of the juice was recorded using a data acquisition system during 3.52 s PEF treatment. The treated juice was cooled in an ice-water bath to minimize the effect of cooling period on PME inactivation. AA content, PME activity, cloud value and color of the juice were measured using iodine titration, Kimball, spectroscopy and image processing, respectively.
Results and discussion: Results showed that higher PME inactivation was observed in the juices treated at higher IR pre-heating temperature in combination to higher PEF intensity, resulting in higher cloud stability of the juice. While preheating of the juice decreased the AA content, PEF treatment has no significant effect reflecting the heat sensitivity of this vitamin. Furthermore, color aspects of the juice were more affected by heating treatment in comparison to the PEF processing. Browning index (BI) increased as the AA content decreased. By measuring the total color difference (TCD) it was shown that the PEF had no impact on color properties of the juice. Therefore, the synergistic effect between the IR heating and PEF treatment was also effective in producing the juice having the high nutritional value and better appearance.
Feresshteh Gholami; Sara Ansari
Abstract
Introduction: Roasting is an essential process that improves the taste, color, texture and appearance of the product. The shelf-life is also extended as a result of roasting. The temperature and the duration of roasting are the most important factors that influence favorable traits. IR is a novel technique ...
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Introduction: Roasting is an essential process that improves the taste, color, texture and appearance of the product. The shelf-life is also extended as a result of roasting. The temperature and the duration of roasting are the most important factors that influence favorable traits. IR is a novel technique for roasting that, compared to conventional heating, has positive advantages such as shorten heating time, significant energy saving and uniform heating. This study aimed to investigate the effect of IR, compared to conventional, roasting on some physicochemical and quality properties of soybeans. Moreover, the conditions of roasting soybeans via the two mentioned methods were optimized using Response Surface Methodology (RSM).
Material and methods: Soybean seeds were collected from a commercial farm in Gorgan (North of Iran) and were dried in an oven at 40 °C for 48 hours until the moisture content became lower than 5 % w/w. For each treatment, 25 g of raw soybeans were spread in glass petri dishes and were then roasted under the conditions selected for each experiment. In conventional roasting an electrical oven with the temperature range of 180 to 260 °C and time duration of 5 to15 min was used. IR roasting was performed using an IR-warm air apparatus with a constant power of 1300 W at the air temperature of 180-240 °C for 5-15 min. After the temperature equilibrium was reached, the samples were packed in polyethylene bags and were kept at 4 °C until further analysis. For each roasting method, a central composite design consisted of two variables of time and temperature (each in three levels) and a total of 13 experiments were applied. Response surface analysis was performed using Design-Expert software. The moisture content of samples was determined by drying the samples in a drying oven at 105 °C until a constant weight was reached. The total phenol content was measured quantitatively by the Folin-Ciocalteu colorimetric method based on the reaction of reagents with the active hydroxyl groups of phenolic compounds. The radical scavenging activity of the samples was determined by the DPPH radical. The force needed to break the roasted seeds was evaluated using a texture analyzer equipped with a load cell of 25 Kg. The color of samples was evaluated in a special box under controlled conditions (in terms of light intensity and camera position) using a digital camera and the color parameters (L*, a* and b*) and the color change (ΔE) were determined.
Results and Discussion: According to the results, the second- and first-order models were suggested for the study of time and temperature effects on moisture reduction that were both significant (p<0.05). In two methods, total phenolic content and antioxidant activity models were significantly (p<0.05) second-order. With increasing time and temperature, these above values increased. Hardness and color differences of oven roasting were both first-order but only color differences were first-order for infrared roasting. Effects of two parameters were significant in all models. Optimum conditions for soybeans roasting sing oven and infrared were 223°C – 13 min and 231°C – 11 min, respectively. In optimum condition, experimental data for the moisture content, total phenolic content, antioxidant activity, hardness and color differences were: (1.10, 4.53, 42.75, 9.03, and 4.93) , (1.58, 4.93, 47.85, 6.20, and 4.79) respectively. Based on above results, infrared can be introduced as a replacement of conventional oven method for the roasting of soybeans.
Hassan Sabbaghi; Aman Mohammad Ziaiifar; Mahdi Kashani-Nejad
Abstract
Introduction: L-Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is the most important vitamin in terms of nutrition. Ascorbic acid is a thermolabile (heat-sensitive) compound that can be degenerated aerobically or anaerobically. The degradation rates of ascorbic acid differ with the changes in environmental conditions such ...
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Introduction: L-Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is the most important vitamin in terms of nutrition. Ascorbic acid is a thermolabile (heat-sensitive) compound that can be degenerated aerobically or anaerobically. The degradation rates of ascorbic acid differ with the changes in environmental conditions such as temperature and water activity. It is ascertained that the other nutrients residing in a food can be preserved in case the Vitamin C content is preserved. Thus, the compound is considered as the nutritional quality index during the food processing. The simultaneous infrared dry-blanching and dehydration (SIRDBD) with intermittent heating method is a novel process in which the temperature is kept constant. Over-blanching causes product quality decline and nutrients, especially vitamins, deterioration. Therefore, the precise process conditions (time and temperature) are specified with the objective of preventing over-processing. To do so, such factors as access to the specific center temperature, access to a certain level of enzymatic inactivation and preservation of a given ratio of Vitamin C should be taken into account. This is subject to the biophysical properties of fruits and slices size and shape. The aim of this study was to determine the appropriate operating conditions for blanching step. For this purpose, the effect of irradiation temperature and thickness of the product on the destruction of polyphenol oxidase (enzymatic browning agent) and vitamin C were investigated.
Materials and methods: Apple slices (Golden Delicious variety) were prepared with thickness of 5, 9 and 13 mm and 20 mm in diameter. Irradiation was carried out at three constant temperatures of 70, 75, and 80 ° C. The central temperature of the product was recorded during processing. To evaluate the enzymatic activity of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and its effect on the product color, apple slices were removed from the device in 2- minute intervals and the process was continued till the time no sign of color change stemming from catechol reagent addition was observable. Vitamin C content measurement was carried out with 30- minute intervals during drying till apple slice reaches constant weight. It was performed based on titration by the use of 2, 6-Dichlorophenol-Indophenol (DCPIP). To calculate the browning index (BI) due to PPO activity, image acquisition was made with the use of a flatbed scanner. The treated samples were placed on the scanner and then a black box was utilized so as to prevent the interferences of the peripheral lights and light reflections. The images featured a 300 dpi quality and were saved in TIFF-24 bit format. Color analysis of the obtained images was carried out in color spaces L*a*b* by the use of “color space convertor” pelagin in ImageJ software, version 1.6.0. Statistical analyses were carried out in SPSS software, version 19. To do so and in order to assess the time required time for the blanching, there was made use of completely randomized design (CRD) in factorial format (32) considering two factors, namely thickness (in three levels) and temperature (in three levels). The statistical analyses of the vitamin degradation kinetic constant (k), as well, were conducted based on randomized complete block design (RCBD) in the course of which the temperature and thickness were considered as the block and the treatment, respectively. Mean comparisons were undertaken based on Duncan test in a 95% confidence level (P
Hassan Sabbaghi; Aman Mohammad Ziaiifar; Mahdi Kashani-Nejad
Abstract
Introduction: Color is the most important feature of food appearance, since it strongly affects consumer acceptance. The abnormal color is closely related to degradation of food quality or food spoilage. Various factors affecting color of the product include the composition and surface properties of ...
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Introduction: Color is the most important feature of food appearance, since it strongly affects consumer acceptance. The abnormal color is closely related to degradation of food quality or food spoilage. Various factors affecting color of the product include the composition and surface properties of the foodstuff, process conditions (temperature and time), and the type of pretreatment processes. Therefore, for the design of a new process, kinetic modeling is essential for extracting basic kinetic information in a system to predict changes. Intermittent irradiation is the novel processing method in food industry which the surface temperature of product is kept constant. Darkening process occur in the fruit slices during drying, resulting in undesirable color changes. Undesirable color variations can be attributed to Millard's browning reactions between sugar and amine compounds or ascorbic acid oxidation. Thermal degradation kinetic models define maximum maintenance conditions for qualitative factors to produce a safe food. Color descriptive models are known as zero order, first order, and fractional conversion model. The fractional conversion model represents the response rate required at a given time to complete a phenomenon. This modeling is necessary for designing online quality control systems for thermal processing in the food industry and preserving the apparent quality of the product by optimizing the most important drying parameters. In this study, the kinetic of color changes in apple slices was investigated, in order to maintain appearance quality of product during simultaneous infrared dry-blanching and dehydration with intermittent irradiation.
Materials and Methods: Apple slices (Golden Delicious Variety) were dried in three thicknesses of 5, 9 and 13 mm using three constant surface temperatures of 70, 75 and 80 ° C. Image acquisition of apple slices was made use of a flatbed scanner with an interval of 15 minutes during processing. The treated samples were placed on the scanner and then a black box was utilized so as to prevent the interferences of the peripheral lights. The images featured a 300 dpi quality and were saved in TIFF-24 bit format. The color analysis of the images was carried out in color space of L*a*b* by the use ImageJ software, version 1.6.0. The lightness parameter (L), redness (a), yellowness (b), the intensity of the color changes (∆E), chroma (Cr) and browning index (BI) were described during product processing using fractional conversion model. Equilibrium color parameters (Cf) were also used as an indicator to compare different process conditions. The fitting of the model was done using the curve fitting toolbox in the 2009 version of the MATLAB software with 95% confidence level (P
