High pressure processing (HPP) as a non-thermal food preservation technique has been successfully commercialized on many food products recently, such as on juices, sauces, meats, and seafood. As its effectiveness in killing microorganisms and minimal effect on the physiochemical, sensory, and nutritional properties of foods, HPP is an ideal food preservation technique for products (e.g. juice and puree) of superfruits, on which consumers usually have high expectation of quality and heathy benefits. Superfruit is a marketing term for fruits with supposed health benefits which usually are rich in phytochemicals and antioxidants, but also come along with unfavorable taste (e.g. bitterness and astringency). Aronia berry is such a superfruit and being grown as a specialty crop primarily in the Midwest and throughout the north of United States in recent 10 years. However, unlike other berries, majority of aronia berries are not consumed freshly due to their sour and astringent taste. If couldn’t been processed into value-added products, they would be turned into food waste or leaving on the bush without harvesting. Therefore, it is in urgent need to find a processing technology which not only can process aronia berries into a value-added and safe product such as juice, but also should maximally maintain its prime quality, the biggest selling point of this berry. This presentation, with aronia berry as the main model, will address how high pressure processing technology compared with traditional pasteurization would affect the overall quality of superfruit juice, such as physicochemical properties, microbial counts (including spores), enzymes activities, bioactive compounds, antioxidant capacities, and flavor. The effect of HPP on the efficiency of masking technology, which is employed to enhance the favor of aronia juice, also will be discussed. The successful application of HPP technology together with masking technology on aronia juice will contribute to a viable and sustainable aronia industry, and these technologies also can be applied to other superfruit industries.

High pressure processing (HPP) as an innovative approach in value-added product development of superfruits with aronia berry as the main model

2019 Fall National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.