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High pressure processing: Evolution from new ideas to production concepts |
P. ROVERE, Flow Italia, SSICA Parma, viale Tanara 31/a, 43100, Parma, Italy Novel technologies aim to improve the quality of the food in different ways. This would include safety standards, nutritional and sensorial characteristics as well as value for money. The possibility to obtain a desired novel effect on a food matrix can generate a real interest regarding the application of the technology. The biggest hurdle to be addressed can often be the transfer of the new technology to the production environment. Model experiences and observations are sometimes difficult to replicate in an industrial environment normally focused on productivity, economics and quality standards. A pre-industrial application development needs to be carried out where the right compromise between novelty and reality can be reached. High pressure processing (HPP) is an example of this situation. The application of the process leads to products where some of the quality attributes are enhanced over the others. It is known that sensorial characteristics of HPP foods are superior to conventional thermally processed products. Nevertheless the stability and the consequential "usability" of this product are strictly related to a "hurdle technology" situation. This situation often forms the principle defining and limiting characteristics of the commercial food. The situation regarding sterilized products obtained through the combination of pressure and temperature conditions is similar. The global advantages of this process in terms of quality are still not completely evaluated. Field experience on HPP technology transfer has shown the need for an "incubation" period for developing real product concept during the technology transfer between R&D at laboratory/university units to a commercial production. This stage has been shown to be essential before industrial implementation begins, in order to develop strong concepts of production, quality and marketing. Those concepts may then become the future base for global technological solutions, able to enhance the advantages and overcome the problems of any new technology, like HPP.
Session 3, Impact of non-thermal processing technologies on food quality
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