Green Pea and Garlic Puree Model Food Development for Thermal Pasteurization Process Quality Evaluation

Area of Science:

• Food Science and Technology
• Thermal Processing
• Dielectric Properties

Background:

• Model foods are essential for developing, validating, and optimizing thermal pasteurization processes.
• Existing models often use Maillard reaction products, leading to similar temperature sensitivities.
• A need exists for model foods with diverse time-temperature integrators for broader applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop novel model foods using different time-temperature integrators.
• To characterize the dielectric properties and color change kinetics of these model foods.
• To validate the performance of the optimal model food in hot water and microwave-assisted pasteurization.

Main Methods:

• Developed green pea and garlic puree model foods with color (a* value) as the time-temperature indicator.
• Determined dielectric properties and color change kinetics at 915 MHz.
• Validated the green pea model food in comparative hot water and microwave-assisted pasteurization experiments.

Main Results:

• Green pea model food exhibited greater microwave penetration depth compared to garlic.
• Green pea model food showed a* value reaction rates approximately four times slower than garlic, preferred for quality evaluation.
• Pasteurization validation demonstrated quantifiable color differences between unheated, hot water, and microwave-assisted treatments using the green pea model.

Conclusions:

• Novel green pea and garlic puree model foods were successfully developed.
• The green pea model food is suitable for quality assessment and optimization in thermal pasteurization, particularly for processes targeting 90 °C for 10 min.
• Both developed model foods can be utilized for quality assessment and optimization across various thermal pasteurization techniques.