MAKURU M.

M 213686062
MAHLOKO D.D 219939183
MUTHALA G. 214006693

Module: Food Components

Date: 14 August 2023

Techniques used in South Africa to achieve desirable processed products of

plant origin.

Introduction

Fruits, vegetables, seeds, beans, spices, and other plant-based foods are crucial
parts of a healthy diet and their regular, enough consumption may help prevent
certain serious illnesses including cancer and cardiovascular disorders, among
others. A daily minimum intake of 400 g of fruits and vegetables may help to reduce
the occurrence of chronic diseases and the mitigation of micronutrient deficiencies,
according to the combined report of the World Health Organisation and Food and
Agriculture Organisation.

Fruits and vegetables turn brown due to enzymes when they are exposed to the air
after being cut, sliced, or pulped, when they are mechanically damaged during
transit, or when they are thawed from being frozen or kept cold. The antioxidant
compounds many changes occur during harvesting, preparation (fresh-cut fruits) and
storage of these fruits. These changes induce a pronounced loss of the
microbiological and antioxidant qualities (Lindley, 1998). The primary enzymes
causing browning are peroxidase (POD) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO). PPO is
categorised as an oxidoreductase enzyme having a prosthetic group made up of four
copper atoms. The development of melanin and the oxidation of phenolic substances
to quinones give meals their black colour (Balwinder, 2018).

Other ways of extending the shelf life of fruits, vegetables and some meats include
the use of a technique known as biopreservation. For this to successfully take place,
natural or controlled microbiota or antimicrobials are used to minimize spoilage and
to inactivate spoilage pathogens. Some of the techniques used such as irradiation,
hurdle technology and biopreservation help maintain the quality and safety of the
product. The biopreservation technique is the preferred method in the farm-to-fork
concept, these require the highest level of freshness, quality, hygiene status and
nutritional quality by the time of consumption. Unlike enzymatic browning where
enzymes are inactivated to minimise or prevent enzymatic browning, biopreservation
requires the use of naturally occurring enzymes and their metabolites. These
organisms include LAB (lactic acid bacteria) and their bacteriocins, bacteriophages
and bacteriophage encoded enzymes. This then helps maintain the texture and the
flavour of the product. (Singh, 2018). Chemical treatments will be presented by
underlining the main action of each molecule (antioxidants, acidifying, agents of
firmness or chelating agents). Then physical methods (blanching, freezing and the
modification of product atmosphere), then look at introducing the new advances in
this field. Coating methods will also be discussed as will the combination of several
preservation methods

Text

One technique for preserving fruits is thermal or heating processing. The technology
used to boost the durability and extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables is
thermal processing. This is due to the process's successful reduction of microbial
population growth and destruction of natural enzymes. Jams, jellies, canned and
bottled fruits and vegetables have all been produced using this thermal method.
Fruits and vegetables in cans and bottles are often prepared under commercial
sterility and have a shelf life of at least two years. The process of heating unsterile
foods in cans or other containers, or heating food products before packing or
sterilising them, is known as thermal processing.

Treatment with antioxidant agents Antioxidants can prevent the initiation of browning
by reacting with oxygen. They also react with the intermediate products, thus
breaking the chain reaction and preventing the formation of melanin (Lindley, 1998).
Their effectiveness depends on environmental factors such as pH, water activity
(aw), temperature, light and composition of the atmosphere. The main antioxidants
used are hexylresorcinol E586, erythorbic acid E315, N-acetyl cysteine E920,
cysteine hydrochloride E920, ascorbic acid E300 and glutathione (Arias, Gonzalez,
Oria & Lopez-Buesa, 2007).
Blanching food is a heat treatment. Blanching treatments are presented according to
the heat medium used: blanching in boiling water and/or in steam; blanching by
using microwave was also developed the last years. The blanching time varies
depending on the technique used, the type of product, size or maturity status. It is
often used before the process of appertization, freezing and lyophilization. This
process inactivates the enzymatic systems responsible for sensory and vitaminic
alterations and thus limits the oxidation. In addition, the colours of plants are
heightened, for better presentation. Indeed, oxidative activity of polyphenol oxidase
varies according to temperature; it increases with temperature to reach a plateau.
Once the optimal activity of the enzyme is reached, the relative activity of the
enzyme drops with a temperature increase (Özel, Colak, Arslan & Yildirim, 2010).
Blanching has also some disadvantages. It alters, in part, the consistency of treated
product and sometimes gives a cooked flavour. It also generates losses of nutrients
and results in decreased weight of the product. For this latter reason, the choice of
the optimum combination time - temperature of the heat treatment has to be made
by minimizing nutritional and textural losses.

Freezing is a technique often used to stop browning reactions in fruit. Indeed,

freezing causes a decrease in available water for enzymatic reactions. It was
confirmed by Lavelli (2010) who found that in the apple a water activity below of 0.3,
the PPO is no longer active. As the water activity decreases with temperature, the
storage temperature would be -24°C to reach water activity of 0.3 (Heldman &
Taylor, 1997). Few studies deal with the optimization of freezing as conservation
method because freezing leads to irreversible changes in the food product such as
firmness loss during thawing (Shomer, Borochov-Neori, Luzki & Merin, 1998).
Freezing can be a useful technique if the product does not need to be thawed.
Indeed, after thawing, food quality is often altered and enzymatic reactions take
place very rapidly in the product. Thus, freezing can be used to increase product
shelf-life, but in association with other conservation methods such as dipping or
blanching (Prestamo, Palomares & Sanz, 2005).

Oxygen is essential for the oxidation reaction and PPO activity, a solution to control
enzymatic browning reactions would be to change the oxygen content of the storage
atmosphere (Ingraham, 1955). Most studies dealt with modified atmosphere
packaging, by modifying the composition of atmosphere, showed that the enzymatic
systems are delayed without altering product quality. The first studies modified the
O2 content by replacing it with CO2 or N2 (De Souza et al., 2006; Teixeira, Durigan,
Alves & O'Hare, 2008; Wang et al., 2011). Recent studies used Argon or NO2 to
control the atmosphere. The efficiency of these two gases was shown in comparison
with N2 (Rocculi, Romani & Dalla Rosa, 2005; O'Beirne, Murphy & Eidhin, 2011). It
allows a better preventing browning without quality loss. However, more and more
studies combine atmosphere modification with a chemical treatment of the fruit to
increase the duration of the storage without quality loss.

Food products can be dried using a variety of methods, including sun drying (natural
drying) and utilising simulated heat at a set temperature in specifically designed
chambers known as dehydrators or dryers. Although this method is frequently used
with meat and fish, it can also be utilised with produce like fruits and vegetables. As
a result, dried fruit and vegetable goods will weigh less and can therefore have lower
shipping costs. The food's moisture level is decreased to 10% to 15%, which can
hinder and deactivate the bacteria already present. The moisture content can be
removed using either solar drying or temperature control. Further dehydration is not
advised, though, as the product will frequently become excessively brittle.

The two types of drying processes are natural drying and artificial drying. Natural
drying is done with a cheap method while in an open environment. It simply relies on
sunshine and wind as its only sources of energy. Thin layers of fruit will be dried
while being regularly turned in the sun. There are a few artificial drying techniques
available right now, including fuel-heated dryers, bush dryers, air dryers with artificial
ventilation, and others. The bush dryer is a fire created in an oven using oil drums to
warm the air around it. Climb through the thin layer of fruit that is placed on the racks
and needs to be shaken or blended frequently with constant supervision. The final
strategy involves using an artificial ventilation system together with the air dryer.
Using a motor-controlled ventilator, warm air from the motor or heated air from a hob
can be blown through the items.
The application of Nisin as Biopresavative in South Africa and how it is
applied.

Certain strains of Lactococcus lactis subsp produce nisin, an antibacterial

polypeptide or bacteriocin. Gram-positive bacteria are resistant to it, whereas yeasts,
moulds, and other Gram-negative bacteria are not at all or hardly affected.

The use of nisin as a food preservative reduces the influence of heat on product
quality by allowing a reduction in the heat process, and the article gives several
examples of this use. Like nisin, the polyene macrolide antifungal substance
natamycin (formerly known as pimaricin) is created by the bacterial strain
Streptomyces natalensis fermentation, hence it can be regarded as natural.
Natamycin is a commercial food preservative that is made and used as an
authorised food preservative in every country. It is mostly used to treat the surface of
cheese and dried sausages, though it can also be used to preserve yoghurt, cottage
cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, salad dressing, and soft tortillas. (Delves, 2018).

The effectiveness of nisin against spores is greater than against vegetative forms of
the microorganism because of its sporostatic potential rather than sporicidal activity
(Chen & Hoover, 2003). In the sporostatic mechanism, nisin binds to the sulfhydryl
groups of protein residues, which can be distinct from bactericidal action at the cell
membrane of vegetative bacteria. Nisin, when applied in combination with heat,
synergistically increases its activity against spores. Therefore, nisin can be applied in
low-acid and heat-processed food products (Sharif Z et al. 2018).

Dairy products

Microbial contamination of dairy products is a worldwide food safety and food quality
concern as contamination can occur at any part along the food chain. Pathogens of
concern in dairy products include both gram-positive bacteria such as Listeria
monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus and gram-negative bacteria such as
Salmonella spp. and Cronobacter sakazakii. Nisin is a heat-stable bacteriocin
produced by certain Lactococcus lactis ssp. Lactis strains, with a proven track record
as an effective antimicrobial for selected dairy foods. It is suitable for clean label
applications as it is abundant in the fermentates of nisin-producing L. lactis strains
and is primarily active against gram positive bacteria such as L. monocytogenes and
S. aureus. In addition to all of this, nisin inhibits the outgrowth of spores from several
Bacillus and Clostridium species in dairy products but has little, if any, effect against
gram negative bacteria, yeast, and moulds. (Ibarra-Sanchez et al, 2020). Nisin is
used in pasteurized, processed cheese products to prevent the outgrowth of spores
such as those of Clostridium tyrobutyricum which may survive the heat treatments at
temperatures as high as 85-105ºC. The use of nisin allows these products to be
formulated with high moisture levels and low NaCl and phosphate contents and also
allows them to be stored outside chill cabinets without the risk of spoilage. The level
of nisin used depends on food composition, likely spore load, required shelf-life and
temperatures likely to be encountered during storage. Nisin is also used to extend
the shelf life of dairy desserts which cannot be fully sterilized without damaging their
appearance, taste or texture. It can significantly increase the limited shelf life of such
pasteurized products. (Hill, O’Keeffe & Hill, O’Keeffe & Ross, 2002). It should be
stated though that it has been well established that nisin is less effective in certain
dairy products. In particular, dairy foods with a neutral pH made with whole milk are
known to be poor candidates for nisin application. Nisin is greatly affected by pH and
has a maximum solubility and stability at pH 3 possibly due to its structure which is
pH dependent. Active antimicrobial packaging containing nisin can provide an
effective hurdle to control cheese contamination during processing or post
processing activities, but it is actively limited to the cheese surface. (Ibarra-Sanchez
et al, 2020).

Fruits and vegetables

Fruit and vegetable juices are important sources of vitamins, minerals, pigments,
etc., most of which have been established to have antioxidant and free-radical
scavenging activities. However, these juices lack the fibre content originally present
in their fresh forms, thus the supplementation of these juices with bacterial cellulose
offers an alternative fibre source. (Jagannath et al, 2014). Heat processing is the
most commonly used hurdle for inactivating microorganisms in fruit juices. However,
this preservation method could interfere with the organoleptic characteristics of the
product. Alternative methods have been proposed and bacteriocins such as nisin are
good candidates. (Junior et al, 2015). Nisin as a biopreservative has been
extensively used in fruit juices at levels of 1-25 ppm and has been reported to be
particularly effective against Alicyclobacillus sp. an acid tolerant and heat resistant
organism which is the cause of major spoilage problems in pasteurized and heat-
treated juices. (Jagannath et al, 2014).
Canned foods

Nisin is used in canned foods mainly for the control of thermophilic spoilage. It is
mandatory in most countries that low-acid canned foods, which means foods with a
pH of higher than 4.5, receive a minimum heat process of F0 = 3 (F0 value is used to
determine the exposure time of material for sterilization at a particular temperature.
F0 value is the time in minutes for the specified temperature that gives the same
thermal lethality as at 121°C in one minute to ensure the destruction of Clostridium
botulinum spores. Low-acid foods processed at F0 = 3 are still susceptible to
spoilage from surviving heat-resistant spores of thermophilic bacterial species
Bacillus stearothermophilus and Clostridium thermosaccharolyticum (cause of can
swells). Thus, the addition of nisin can facilitate prolonged storage of canned
vegetables at warm ambient temperatures by inhibiting spore outgrowth of these
thermophilic spoilage organisms. The use of nisin can also allow a reduction in the
F0 process down to the minimum of 3 without increasing the potential risk of
thermophilic spoilage. Other advantages of the use of nisin in canned foods are
reduced heat damage to the foods as well as potential saving in energy consumption
because of the reduction of the F0 process. The fact that heat-resistant thermophilic
spores are highly sensitive to nisin combined with the heat damage enhancing their
sensitivity means that extremely low levels of residual nisin can still be effective in
this application. Pre-Acidification of the brine with citric acid improves nisin retention
with minimal effect to the pH of the vegetables after processing. Some examples of
use are canned peas, carrots, baby sweetcorn and peppers. (Williams & Delves-
Broughton, 2003).

Conclusions.

The different methods of preservation against enzymatic browning in fruits and

vegetables are in constant development. Food preservation also increases the safe
storage period of foodstuffs. It increases the availability of out of season foods and
also increases the availability of various foodstuffs even at distant and not easily
approachable places. Thanks to acidulants such as citric acid, products such as
fruits can be prevented from turning brown and are important in foods such as jam.
Antioxidants such as ascorbic acid have acted as free radical scavengers in food
systems, thereby preventing oxidation and reducing undesirable oxidative products.
Bacteriocins, such as nisin as we’ve seen, have many preservation advantages with
its ability to inhibit the growth of many spore forming microorganisms. All these diffe

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