The Chemistry of Thermal Food Processing Procedures

1 Thermal Processing in the Food Industry. An Introduction . . . . . . . 1
Maria Micali and Marco Fiorino
1.1 Introduction to Thermal Processes for the Production
of Safe Foods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 The Safety of Foods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Food Preservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Thermal Processing in Food Industries and Chemical
Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Maria Micali and Marco Fiorino
2.1 Introduction to Food Preservation Methods. High-Temperature
Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.1.1 Pasteurisation: General Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.2 Sterilisation: General Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2 Cold Preservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.2.1 Cold Storage: Different Preservation Techniques . . . . . . . . 13
2.3 Non-thermal Food Preservation Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.1 Modified Atmosphere Packaging Technologies . . . . . . . . . 19
2.3.2 Controlled Atmosphere Storage Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3.3 Vacuum Packaging and Hypobaric Packaging Systems . . . 24
2.3.4 Smart and Intelligent Packaging Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.3.5 High-Pressure Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.3.6 Irradiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.3.7 Superchilling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.4 Traditional Preservation Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.4.1 Preservation with Traditional Additives
and Pretreatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.4.2 Other Traditional and Modern Preservation Techniques . . . 32
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3 Undesired Chemical Alterations and Process-Related Causes.
The Role of Thermal Control and the Management
of Thermal Machines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Marco Fiorino and Salvatore Parisi
3.1 Introduction to Chemical and Physical Modifications
of Foods in the Modern World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.2 Undesired Chemical Alterations and Thermal Processing
Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.3 Thermal Processing Parameters and Chemistry of Foods. . . . . . . . 48
3.3.1 Reduction of Hydric Amounts and Possible Damages
After Cooking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.3.2 Hydrolysis of Proteins, Carbohydrates and Fatty
Molecules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.3.3 Demolition of Nutrients. Maillard Reactions
and Other Mechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50