What are the latest innovations in fruit processing?
In the field of fruit preservation and processing, we have seen several advancements over the past few years, focusing on improving shelf life, maintaining nutritional quality and enhancing flavour.
Non-thermal Processing Techniques:
Processing techniques such as high-pressure processing (HPP) and pulsed electric fields (PEF) are gaining popularity as they are methods that help preserve the fruits nutrients and maintain freshness, without the use of heat.
A few ways to do this, HPP processing is a method that uses high pressure to inactivate pathogens, spoilage microorganisms, and enzymes in food products while preserving their sensory and nutritional qualities. The use of pulsed electric fields is another preservation processing method that doesn’t use heat, rather uses short bursts of high voltage electric pulses to inactivate microorganisms and disrupt cell membranes.
Use of natural compounds:
Coatings of certain natural compounds such as chitosan, alginate or starch are being used more frequently as they extend the shelf life of the final product, by creating a barrier against moisture loss and microbial growth.
Modified Atmosphere Packaging:
Another way microbial growth is managed in manufacturing a processed fruit ingredient is using modified atmosphere packaging. This involves altering the atmosphere around fruit to slow down respiration and microbial growth, and ultimately helps in maintaining freshness of the product, and prolonging shelf life without the need for chemical preservatives.
Encapsulation of Active Compounds:
Encapsulation technologies are used to protect sensitive bioactive compounds within fruits, such as antioxidants and vitamins, ensuring their stability and controlled releases during processing and storage of the final product.
Emerging drying technologies:
Techniques like freeze-drying, vacuum drying and infrared drying are evolving and becoming more popular. Whilst we haven’t yet developed a dried fruit ingredient at Avondale, testing around the use of freeze-dried fruit products has opened opportunities with food manufacturers for use in snacks and mueslis. Freeze dried products are also gaining popularity with food manufacturers due to their light weight and ease of storage and transport ahead of production. Many of these new drying innovations are effective in preserving fruits nutritional content and flavour better than traditional drying methods.
Waste reduction and sustainability:
Over the past decade there has been a focus on innovations to reduce waste and increase sustainability in the transformation process. Utilisation of by-products and sustainable processing methods have also evolved, like using fruit waste and converting it into value-added products such as dietary fibres, antioxidants and biofuels.
With innovations in the fruit processing space still on the rise, we look forward to implementing more ways to improve the quality and safety of processed fruits, and address consumer demand for natural, minimally processed foods with an extended shelf life.
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