Application of non‐thermal pretreatment techniques on agricultural products prior to drying: a review

BACKGROUND Most agricultural crops contain high moisture content (80–95% wet basis (wb)) which makes them very susceptible to microbial damage leading to shorter shelf‐life and high postharvest losses. The high perishability of these agricultural products requires preservation techniques to prolong...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the science of food and agriculture 2020-04, Vol.100 (6), p.2585-2599
Main Authors: Osae, Richard, Essilfie, Gloria, Alolga, Raphael N, Akaba, Selorm, Song, Xiaoqian, Owusu‐Ansah, Patrick, Zhou, Cunshan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural management
Agricultural products
Bioactive compounds
Deactivation
Dehydration
Drying
Electric fields
Energy efficiency
Environmental impact
Enzymic browning
Flavor
Flavors
High pressure
high pressure (HP)
Inactivation
Mass transfer
Microorganisms
Moisture content
non‐thermal pretreatment (NTP) techniques
Nutritive value
osmotic dehydration (OD)
Post-harvest decay
Preservation
Pretreatment
pulsed electric field (PEF)
Shelf life
Ultrasound
ultrasound (US)
Water content
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Summary:BACKGROUND Most agricultural crops contain high moisture content (80–95% wet basis (wb)) which makes them very susceptible to microbial damage leading to shorter shelf‐life and high postharvest losses. The high perishability of these agricultural products requires preservation techniques to prolong their shelf‐lives. Drying remains an important component of processing in this regard. Therefore, any pretreatment methods for drying agricultural product that decreases the moisture content and minimizes drying time by conserving the quality of the crop product is of prime significance. This article is a comprehensive review of recent developments of non‐thermal pretreatment (NTP) methods. A summary of their significance, emerging and innovative methods of this technology together with its applications and limitations are discussed. This article further examines the environmental impact of NTP techniques. RESULTS NTP techniques, such as high pressure, ultrasound, pulsed electric field and osmotic dehydration methods are essential operations for pre‐dehydration of agricultural products prior to drying. These techniques can avoid the deleterious effects of heat on nutritive value, colour and flavour of agricultural products compared to thermal pretreatments. They also enhance the inactivation of the enzymes, improve energy efficiency and mass transfer, reduce processing time, preserve bioactive compounds, improve drying kinetics and drying rate, minimize enzymatic browning, and enhance product quality. CONCLUSION These findings will provide a better understanding of different NTP methods and also make available more information for selecting pretreatment techniques for drying of agricultural products. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry
ISSN:0022-5142
1097-0010
DOI:10.1002/jsfa.10284