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Current development of high pressure processed foods in Japan |
A. SUZUKI, Dept. of Applied Biological Chemistry, Niigata Univ., Faculty of Agriculture, Ikarashi, Niigata, 950-2181, Japan It has been over 10 years since high pressure processing has been proposed as an alternative food processing method to traditional heat treatment in Japan. High pressure processing has strong appeal to food industries because it has less adverse effects on the nutrient content of foods, does not produce odor or undesirable compounds, enables the modification of physical properties of foods, and requires less energy compared to thermal processing. In 1992, high pressure processed apple, strawberry, and pineapple jams appeared in the Japanese market as the first commercialized high pressure processed foods in the world. The commercialization of high pressure processed orange and grapefruit juices was not successful due to the small market available for these products. Since 1995, high pressure processed grain products such as rice cake, hypoallergic rice and single-portioned cooked rice appeared in the market place with steady increase in production volume. At present, a high pressure research group, consisting of about 60 food companies, is conducting research on high pressure processed foods following the development of the true commercial scale high pressure machine with a capacity of 240 L. Products developed by this group are evaluated by the marketing sectors of supermarkets, and once approved, they are commercially distributed under the name of Pascal Foods. High pressure processed foods have great future potential because of three key factors, safety, reliance and energy efficiency.
Session 34, Applications of high pressure processing technology in the food industry: Case study
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