Green Pea and Garlic Puree Model Food Development for Thermal Pasteurization Process Quality Evaluation

• Published in: Journal of food science Vol. 82; no. 7; pp. 1631 - 1639
• Main Authors: Bornhorst, Ellen R., Tang, Juming, Sablani, Shyam S., Barbosa‐Cánovas, Gustavo V., Liu, Fang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-07-2017
• Subjects: Clostridium botulinum - isolation & purification; Color; Computer simulation; Dielectric properties; Electrical properties; Evaluation; Food; Food Contamination - analysis; Food Handling; Food industry; Food Microbiology; Food processing; Food processing industry; Food Quality; Food selection; Garlic; Garlic - chemistry; Garlic - microbiology; Heat treatment; Hot Temperature; Hot water; Integrators; Kinetics; Maillard reaction; Maillard reaction products; Microwaves; Models, Theoretical; Optimization; Pasteurization; Penetration depth; Pisum sativum - chemistry; Pisum sativum - microbiology; Quality; Quality assessment; Quality control; Reaction kinetics; Reproducibility of Results; Temperature; Temperature effects; pasteurization; color; kinetics; food quality; dielectric properties
• ISSN: 0022-1147; 1750-3841
• DOI: 10.1111/1750-3841.13739

Development and selection of model foods is a critical part of microwave thermal process development, simulation validation, and optimization. Previously developed model foods for pasteurization process evaluation utilized Maillard reaction products as the time–temperature integrators, which resulted in similar temperature sensitivity among the models. The aim of this research was to develop additional model foods based on different time–temperature integrators, determine their dielectric properties and color change kinetics, and validate the optimal model food in hot water and microwave‐assisted pasteurization processes. Color, quantified using a* value, was selected as the time–temperature indicator for green pea and garlic puree model foods. Results showed 915 MHz microwaves had a greater penetration depth into the green pea model food than the garlic. a* value reaction rates for the green pea model were approximately 4 times slower than in the garlic model food; slower reaction rates were preferred for the application of model food in this study, that is quality evaluation for a target process of 90 °C for 10 min at the cold spot. Pasteurization validation used the green pea model food and results showed that there were quantifiable differences between the color of the unheated control, hot water pasteurization, and microwave‐assisted thermal pasteurization system. Both model foods developed in this research could be utilized for quality assessment and optimization of various thermal pasteurization processes.
Practical Application
Green pea and garlic model foods could be used by the food industry to optimize thermal pasteurization processes and evaluate the potential food quality of various processes. The green pea model food would be most applicable for quality evaluation of a target process of 90 °C for 10 min, whereas the garlic model would be better for a milder heat treatment, such as a target process of 70 °C for 2 min.