Potato snacks added with active components: effects of the vacuum impregnation and drying processes

Potato snacks can be used as an ideal strategy for nutrient delivery, since they are one of the most widely consumed products in the world. Due to fried snacks are known to be a significant source of fat intake, consumption is changing towards healthier alternatives. The aim of this research is to evaluate the effect of vacuum impregnation and three dehydration techniques: heated air drying, freeze drying, and microwave vacuum drying of the potato snack that has been fortified with active components: calcium and vitamins C and E. Vacuum impregnation was evaluated using the response surface methodology that had a central composite experimental design with the following independent variables: vacuum pressure, vacuum stage time, and atmospheric stage time. The following were the dependent variables: fraction and volumetric deformation in the vacuum stage and at the end of the process and effective porosity. Finally, a sensorial analysis was carried out on the dehydrated potatoes. The results of the optimal vacuum impregnation process conditions were: a vacuum pressure of 77.3 kPa for 3.0 min followed by 4.0 min at atmospheric pressure. The content of calcium, vitamin C, and vitamin E in the impregnated potato were 956, 472, and 35 mg 100 g^-1 dry solids, respectively. The highest retention of the active components in snacks was obtained by the combination of vacuum impregnation and the dehydration techniques in the following order: freeze drying, microwave vacuum drying, and then heated air drying. It can be concluded that the integration processes give an added value to potato snacks due to the increased content of the active components; additionally, the vacuum impregnation process together with microwave vacuum drying was the alternative that had the highest sensorial acceptability.