Location: Healthy Processed Foods Research
Project Number: 2030-30600-006-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: May 19, 2025
End Date: May 18, 2030
Objective:
Objective 1: Utilize innovative preservation technologies to improve food quality and nutrition.
Sub-objective 1.A: Optimize isochoric freezing technology for the preservation of solid food products such as fruits and vegetables.
Sub-objective 1.B: Develop isochoric freezing technology for preservation and pasteurization of fluid food products.
Objective 2: Processing strategies in development of functional plant-based beverages.
Objective 3: Optimize chemical, sensory, and biological factors in raw and processed food products.
Sub-objective 3.A: Identify compounds in amaranth that impact flavor and taste. Identify precursors (and eventually pathways) of these compounds and study flavor composition and variation in different species (Amaranthus cruentus, Amaranthus hypochondriacus, and Amaranthus caudatus) and accessions.
Sub-objective 3.B: Use analytical methods to determine composition of vanilla extracts from different countries.
Approach:
Objective 1: The potential use of isochoric freezing technology for preservation of solid and fluid foods will be evaluated. The effects of isochoric freezing temperatures (from below 0°C to -5°C for solid food products, and from below 0°C to -20°C for fluid food products) and preservation time on the quality, nutrition, and safety of the food products will be evaluated. Comparisons will be made with current preservation technologies such as refrigeration, conventional freezing, individual quick freezing and pasteurization. Some products might not be able to be processed using isochoric freezing because they are too sensitive to pressure. For these products, we will use isochoric supercooling to extend the shelf-life of the products and reduce quality deterioration.
Objective 2: Plant-based beverages rich in protein, dietary fiber, and bioactive compounds will be developed. Plant-based proteins from amaranth seed and rice protein concentrate will be combined with food ingredients derived from other specialty crops. The resulting mixtures will be solubilized into a slurry. The slurry will then undergo ultrasonication, microfluidization and pasteurization. The influence of the main factors of ultrasonication (time and power) as well as the main factors of micro fluidization (pressure and number of passes) on particle size, viscosity, color and physical stability will be evaluated.
Objective 3: The Identification and quantification of the constituents responsible for the musty, earthy aroma of amaranth will be performed. Acceptable and unacceptable Amaranthus samples will be analyzed to evaluate differences in their aroma composition. Volatiles will be isolated, potent odorants will be identified, and the relative potency of each odor compound will be evaluated using aroma extract dilution analysis. For objective 3, we will test the hypothesis that the chemical signature of each country’s vanilla extracts is unique which would allow differentiation of the extracts. For this objective, vanilla extracts from different countries will be prepared and vanilla constituents will be identified and quantified.