Mild processing strategies for food fortification with biologically active compounds

Mild/non-thermal processes (MNTP) have recently drawn considerable attention in the food processing sector for their ability to combine microbial inhibition with nutritional fortification and high quality and stability of the obtained food products. This great interest from industry is generated in response to consumer’s demand for new products characterized by high functionality and sustainability. This target can be reached with the application and combination of different MNTP, such as dipping, vacuum impregnation (VI), pulsed electric fields (PEF), high pressure homogenization/pasteurization (HP), soft drying etc. The aim of this research work is to give an overview of the most promising strategies to obtain innovative food products, fortified with biologically active compounds. Specific case studies on the application of MNTP technologies aimed at the preparation of food products with different stability levels will be showed. In this direction, dipping treatment in isotonic/hypertonic solutions with antioxidant/bioactive compounds can be used to better maintain/increase the antioxidant properties of fresh-cut fruit and vegetables (1). Using VI, a porous solid tissue can be enriched with functional compounds, such as green tea extracts, berries or citrus juices (2). The application of HP both on solid (HPP) and fluid (HPH) products can promote their enrichment with selected bioactive compounds and/or the increase of the endogenous antioxidants functionality on fruit and vegetable commodities. Emerging non-thermal pre-treatments, such as ultrasound and PEF, can increase the mass transfer, permitting the decrease of further processing steps severity. This last approach opens several possibilities (e.g. for the preparation of fruit and vegetable snacks), allowing the product stabilization using gentle drying processing (3).