Food texture as affected by ohmic heating: Mechanisms involved, recent findings, benefits, and limitations

Publication date: Available online 10 February 2019Source: Trends in Food Science & TechnologyAuthor(s): Mohsen Gavahian, Brijesh K. Tiwari, Yan-Hwa Chu, Yu-Wen Ting, Asgar FarahnakyAbstractBackground.Food texture is an important quality characteristic that affects sensory perception and consumer satisfaction. Thermal processing applies to food material for several reasons including palatability improvement and shelf life extension. Ohmic heating is an energy- and time-saving technique that was previously proposed as an alternative to conventional heating methods in the food industry.Scope and approach.Investigating the effect of ohmic heating method on food quality parameters, such as texture, is an important step towards the industrial adaptation of ohmic heating. This review focuses specifically on the effects of ohmic heating on food texture and tries to elucidate the mechanisms behind the changes in textural attributes during an ohmic process as compared to the classical heating method.Key findings and conclusions.Achieving a predefined product texture in a shorter time and the uniformity of product texture are among the benefits of ohmic heating. However, several challenges including operator safety, negative effect on the chemical composition of the product and high capital investment need to be addressed for the industrial adoption of this technology.Graphical abstract

Source: Trends in Food Science and Technology - February 10, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research