UGEB 2364 Food Safety and Processing Technology

Lesson 5

Food Preservation
Method and Technology
Mr. Chu Kin Kan, Astley
Office: LG93, Science Centre Tel: 3943 8134 E-mail: [email protected]
Food and Nutritional Sciences Programme,
School of Life Sciences, CUHK
25.10.2018
01.11.2018
08.11.2018

1
5.1 Hazard Control in Food Production
Emphases of different hazard controls in food production process
Pre-Process In-Process Post -Process Hazard mainly
controlled by

Biological Inspect Destroy and Check Food processing

Hazard Prevent (sampling)

Chemical Detect and Destroy, Food analysis

Hazard Exclude* Prevent
(in raw contamination
materials)
Physical Detect and Prevent Check Detection
Hazard Exclude contamination (regular)

2
5.2 Food Analyses
5.2.1 Food Analysis Laboratory (in HK)

• Commercial Laboratories
– External- Food Testing Labs: e.g. SGS, Intertek, Castco (~10 in HK)
– Internal- In-house testing Labs: e.g. LKK, Vitasoy, Wellcome, Park’n shop

• HK Government Laboratory

• The Hong Kong Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (HOKLAS)

– By an official organization: Hong Kong Accreditation Service
– Mutual recognition of laboratories (Locally and Internationally)
– Methods and results: (Food) testing methods are mainly based on AOAC
– Cover different kinds of testing: including food composition and chemical
tests

3
5.3 Hurdle Technology
5.3.1 The Food Properties that Determine its Stability
Example
• Temperature
• Water Activity
• pH
• Redox potential
• Preservative

4
5.4.1 Temperature
5.4.1.1 High Temperature
– Process treatment
– To reduce microorganism load
– To destroy enzymes, toxins and anti-nutritive factors
– Simultaneous effect: alters food properties and destroy
some heat labile nutrients
5.4.1.2 Low Temperature
– Process treatment (e.g. quick freezing) and Storage
Method
– To retard the physiological changes of food
– To suppress the microorganism activity
– Minimal effect on food properties (if correct operation)
5
5.4.1 Temperature
5.4.1.3 For Food Storage Only !

Temperature
Danger Zone
(for Food Storage)

Source: Food Bank Canada

6
 5.4.1.1 High Temperature Processing
5.4.1.1.1 Sterilization
– Most original thermal food processing
methods: Canning
– To destroy ALL microorganisms in food
by heating
– To denature all the ALL active enzymes
5.4.1.1.1.1 Sterilized food
Source: www.allpax.com-
– Contain Zero microorganism in a www.foodnetworksolution.com-

hermetic container
– Can long term storage at ambient
temperature

7
5.4.1.1 High Temperature Processing
5.4.1.1.1.2 Thermal Lethality: Time x Temperature (*at cold spot)
Heating requirement: Base on the food product properties
– Heating tolerance of food
– pH and water activity of food
– Target bacteria or enzyme which likely to be present in food

Example:
Low acids (pH>4.6) and High water activity (aw>0.85) Food
Target: Clostridium botulinum Spores
1 D: Heating food at 121oC for 0.21min can reduce 1 Log bacteria number (i.e.,
from 1000 to 100 or from 100 to 10)
12D treatment (121oC for 2.52min): reduce Clostridium botulinum spore
number from 1012 /g to 1 spore/g of food
*Some acidic food may only required 5D treatment: commercial sterilization

8
5.4.1.1 High Temperature Processing
Problem: Some foods are not able to sustain with such high
temperature and time, as undesired changes may occur and
food quality will be degraded to unacceptable level

Solution: Adjust the temperature and time of the thermal

treatment to obtain similar thermal lethality, either by
using
– Lower temp and Longer time: most food canning
process can are carried out at 113-120oC
– Much Higher temp and Shorter time: Ultra High
Temperature (UHT) treatment

Source: askabiologist.asu.edu-
9
5.4.1.1 High Temperature Processing
5.4.1.1.2 Ultra High Temperature (UHT)
Treatment
Technology: Counter-flow plate heat exchanger
Sourcewww.natanweb.com-
or tube and shell heat exchanger encyclopedia.che.engin.umich.edu-

– small volume with large surface area: rapid heat

exchange (pre-heat up and cool down)
– For milk:
• Heating Temp: 132-135oC
• Time: holding 1.5-2.0 sec
– Kill all microbes with minimal effect on food flavor,
aroma, nutrients and other properties
– Applied to non-viscous liquid food only (milk and other
beverages)
– Combine with the aseptic packaging technique:
Tetra-pak®
Source: group.emmi.com-
10
5.4.1.1 High Temperature Processing
5.4.1.1.3 Tetra pak®
• Beverage packaging technology (since 1950’s, Swedish)
• Tetra Brik® Aseptic: Aseptic packaging
• Monopoly in current beverage industry
• 6 layers of packing material Source: www.trewind.com-
www.tetrapak.com

Tetra Brik® Aseptic

11
5.4.1.1 High Temperature Processing
5.4.1.1.4 Pasteurization
• Using lower heating temp to kill micro-organisms or
to inactive the enzyme
• Compromise with the food quality and processing
cost
• To eliminate all the known target pathogens, but not
all the microorganism (even the spoilage microbes)
• To extend to a reasonable shelf-life: one to several
weeks (even longer for alcoholic beverage)
• Pasteurized product usually need to be refrigerated:
to retard the growth of heat survive bacteria, which
is usually can’t grow well in low temperature
• High Temperature Short Time (HTST)
12
5.4.1.1 High Temperature Processing
Source: www.czechminibreweries.com-
• Important to heat intolerant products
• Usually apply on milk, cream, alcoholic
beverage, fruit juice and egg product
Product Target bacteria/Enzyme Pasteurize heat treatment
Milk Coxiella burnetti and 63oC 30min
Mycobacterium tuberculosis 71.7oC 15sec (HTST)
88.3oC 1sec (HTST)

Beer Lactobacillus and yeasts 65-68oC 20min

(spoilage) 72-75oC 1-4min

Liquid Egg Salmonella senftenberg 64.4oC 2.5min

60oC 3.5min
Fruit Juice Enzyme inactivation 65oC 30min
77oC 1min (HTST)
80oC 10-60sec(HTST)
Source: www.wasabicolorado.com-
13
5.4.1.2 Low Temperature Processing
5.4.1.2.1 Chilling
• Storage method: removing sensible and respiration
heat from food
• Chilling temperature can Retard
–growth of microorganisms
–chemical and enzymatic reactions
–metabolic rate (physiological changes) of plants
–physicochemical changes (e.g. water migration) of food
• Commercial -1 to 8oC (or even higher in some case)
• Advantages
– Minimal process (costs)
– Minimal effects on food quality
– Keep foods as fresh (healthier) in quality
Source: askabiologist.asu.edu-
14
5.4.1.2 Low Temperature Processing
5.4.1.2.1.1 Chill injury
• Undesired physiological changes from
chilling
• Possible Reasons:
– Proteins denature and loss their functions
– Low-temperature induced membrane lipid
phase transitions/change of structural
proteins
• leading to a loss of membrane integrity and
physiological dysfunction
• loss of compartmentalization
• Chilling Sensitive Food
– Fresh fruits and vegetables: most tropical, (Heldman & Hartel, 1997)
subtropical and some temperate

15
5.4.1.2 Low Temperature Processing
Sweet potato:
shriveling, surface
pitting, and fungal
decay

Banana: Skin browning

Tomato: pitting,
discoloration, decay,
and uneven ripening

Tomato: Ripen
failure
Pepper: Sheet pitting

Orange: pitting and

brown discolorations.

16
(Taylor & Francis, 2005)
 5.4.1.2 Low Temperature Processing
5.4.1.2.1.2 Chill Sensitive Food

(Kader, 2002)

17
5.4.1.2 Low Temperature Processing
5.4.1.2.2 Cook-Chill System
• Most commonly use in catering service (e.g., airline meals,
central kitchens)
• Relative low cost for ensuring good food safety
• Type of food: individuals foods (e.g. ham/cooked meat),
complete meals and other liquid foods (e.g. sauce, soup, gravy)
• Basic process requirement:
– Cook-chill system (e.g., meals): within 30min
after cooking, portion, and chill the hot food
(i.e. >70oC) to <3-4OC within 90min and store
at 0-3oC (~5 day shelf-life)
– Cook-pasteurize–chill system (e.g., hams/
sauces): the hot food is partial vacuum
sealed in a flexible package, pasteurize at
>80oC for 10min, and cool down to 3oC
immediate (~2-3 week shelf-life) Source: www.youtube.com-

18
5.4.1.2 Low Temperature Processing
5.4.1.2.3 Freezing
• Reduce food temperature to somewhere below the freezing
point of water
• Majority of water transform from liquid to solid (ice-crystal)
– Less water activity resulted
• Pro-long freezing: may kill some micro-organisms (e.g.
bacteria, larva of parasite), but not all (e.g. spore and
endospore)
• To extend food product shelf life for a relatively long-term
storage with minimal scarifying sensory qualities and
nutritional value significantly
• Commercial food frozen temperature: -18oC
• Post-process (Pre-process maybe required)

19
5.4.1.2 Low Temperature Processing
Energy and Temperature change of pure water (at 1atm)
– Specific heat of water: 4.186kJkg-1K-1 or (1kcalkg-1K-1)
– Latent heat of fusion: 334 kJkg-1
– Latent heat of vaporization: 2260 kJkg-1

20
5.4.1.2 Low Temperature Processing
5.4.1.2.3.1 Rapid Freezing
• For slow freezing
– Liquid water may tend to migrate within intercellular space
– Move to the “ice-crystal” nuclear nearby
– Develop a bigger size of ice-crystal
– Also: volume of ice > water (~9%)
• Result: mechanically rupture the cell and damage the
whole food structures
• Rapid Freezing
– Minimize the size of ice crystal among food
– Force the water forming ice crystals (in small size with uniform
distribution) before migration
Source: askabiologist.asu.edu-
Source: www.sciencelearn.org.nz 21
5.4.1.2 Low Temperature Processing

(Fellows, 2009)

22
5.4.1.2 Low Temperature Processing
5.4.1.2.3.2 Food Freezing Equipment (examples)
• Blast Freezer
• Plate Freezer
• Immersion Freezer
• Cryogenic freezers:
– Solid CO2 (-78.5oC)/Liquid N2 (-196.8oC) Source: www.foodtechinfo.com

Source: http://www.cesgroup.com/
Source: wescold.com/PlateFreezers.html
23
5.4.2 Water Activity
5.4.2.1 Water activity (aw)
• Water Content: Total water content in food
• Water Activity (aw): “Unbound” water in food, which is available
– for Bacteria use (growth)
– Chemical or enzymatically reactions
Water vapour pressure of food (P)
Water Activity (aw) =
Water vapour pressure of pure water (P0)

• Change with temp (usually : temp, aw )

• aw of pure water = 1.000
• Relationship between water content and water
activity
• Potential of water migration* Source: academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu-
• aw <0.85 = low water activity food for canning

24
5.4.2 Water Activity

2005, Owusu-Apenten

25
 5.4.2 Water Activity
Group of Min aw value Usual aW Principle Group of Food
Microbes
Many Bacteria 0.90 Above Fresh Meat and Fish, Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, Milk and
0.98 Most Beverages, Canned Vegetables in Brine, Canned Fruits
Many Yeast 0.85* in Light Syrup
Many Molds 0.80
0.98-0.93 Evaporated Milk, Tomato Paste, Processed Cheese, Canned
Halophilic Bacteria 0.75 Cured Meats, Fermented Sausage, Cake, Bread (Fresh),
Xerophilic Fungi 0.70 Canned Fruits in Heavy Syrup, Gouda Cheese
Osmophilic Yeasts 0.60
0.93-0.85 Dry or Fermented Sausage, Dried Beef, Raw Ham, Aged
Cheddar Cheese, Sweetened Condensed Milk, Bakery

0.85-0.60 Dried Fruit, Flour, Cereals, Jams and Jellies, Nuts, Some
Aged Cheeses, Intermediate-moisture Foods

Below 0.6 Chocolate, Confectionery, Honey, Biscuits, Crackers, Potato

Chips, Dried Eggs/Milk/Vegetables
Source: www.aqualab.com-

26
5.4.2 Water Activity
5.4.2.2 Food curing/water binding
chemicals
– Salts: e.g. Salted Food , Hams, Sausages,
Jerky
• Usually combine with fermentation
Source: www.huffingtonpost.com-
– Sugars: e.g. Fruit Jam, Sweetmeats, Honey,
sweeten concentrate milks (>63% sugar)
• Intermediate moisture food
– aw: 0.85-0.60
– Water content: 20-50% by weight
– Not necessary to be refrigerated when storage
Source: www.imagejuicy.com-

27
5.4.2 Water Activity
5.4.2.3 Dehydration
– Remove both bound and free water from food
– Obtain final moisture: 1-5%
– May alter in physical form, shape, texture, color, flavor
and nutrient quality
5.4.2.3.1 Conventional Drying
– Sun drying
– Cabinet/Tray drying
– Hot air drying
– Cold air drying Source: www.wegotnuts.com-

28
5.4.2.3.2. Some Feature Type Driers
Source: www.freezedriedfoodsuppliers.com-
5.4.2.3.2 Vacuum drier
– Remove water at lower boiling point (<100oC) as decrease
the atmospheric pressure
5.4.2.3.3 Freeze drier
– Water remove from frozen food by sublimation at
extremely low pressure conditions
– No heat applied
– Better preserve and restore in quality: flavor, aroma,
texture (porous) and color
– Rehydrate easily
Better aroma preserved!

Source: nuts.com-

Source: image.ec21.com

29
5.4.2.2.2. Some Feature Type Driers
5.4.2.3.4 Spray drier
• Turning liquid to solid powder (one-step)
• Fluid-bed drier: Agglomeration (Instantization)
http://www.aaamachine.com

http://www.cjtech.co.kr/

http://www.bete.co.uk

30
5.4.2 Water Activity
5.4.2.4 Concentration
• Heat applied
– Conventional heat evaporator
– Rising film evaporator (Partial vacuum )
• e.g. Soup, Extracts and Milk concentrate
• Non-heat applied
– Membrane concentration
– Freeze concentration
• e.g. Juice concentrate

Source: www.alibaba.com-

31
5.4.3 pH (Acidity)
5.4.3.1 pH value of food
• Different foods have different pH values, mainly
acidic (pH<7.0)
• Bacteria exhibit different sensitivity towards
acids
• Most of pathogens are sensitive to acid,
inhibited grow or die because of
– Protein denature
– Change of enzymatic activities
– Cannot synthesis energy (ATP)
• Concern pathogen: i.e. Clostridium botulinum
cannot grow at pH<4.6 : Use as baseline to
define acidified food in term of food safety
• Acids usually combine heat treatment to make
preservation more effective
Source: en.wikipedia.org-
32
5.4.3 pH (Acidity)
5.4.3.2 Acidification
• Most of the acids in food are Organic acids which
have different ability (even in same pH) to inhibit bacteria
growth
• Common organic acids naturally in food
– Acetic acid , Ascorbic acid (Vit.C) , Citric acid , Malic
acid and Tartaric acid etc.
• Some common acid preservatives
– Benzoic acid , Sorbic acid and Propionic acid
• Common processing: Pickling (fruit or vegetables)
• Alter in flavor, taste and texture simultaneously

33
34
5.4.4 Redox Potential
5.4.4.1 Redox-reaction: oxidation-reduction (metabolic)
reactions
• Redox potential (Eh)= tendency of a medium to acquire
electron (mv)
*example: Oxygen O2 tends to acquire electron to from O-, thus +ve Eh value
– Aerobic bacteria : > +100mv (optimal: 300-500mv)
(food present of oxidizing agent like O2)
– Anaerobic bacteria: < +100mv to -421mv
(food present of reducing agent like Vitamin C or antioxidants)

35
5.4.4 Redox Potential
To modified the redox potential in food:
• Food formulation (+/- antioxidant), or
• Vacuum Packaging, or
• Modified Atmosphere Packaging
Source: www.youtube.com-
5.4.4.2 Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP)
Air: 78% N2, 21% O2, 0.035% CO2, >1% other gases
Common Gases to use in MAP: N2, CO2 and O2
Involving:
– Gas Influx/Replacing
– Packaging Materials
– Active packaging (e.g. oxygen absorber)

36
 5.4.4.2 MAP
• Nitrogen (78% in air)
High level: - stabilizing (inert) gas to maintain the pack volume
• Carbon dioxide (0.035% in air)
High level: - inhibit aerobic bacterial growth
- dissolve into moisture to form carbonic acid: lower the pH
- negative effects on enzymatic/biochemical activities (to
food and microbes)
• Oxygen (21% in air) Source: www.packworld.com-

Low level: - inhibit aerobic bacterial/fungal growth

- get rid of oxidative reactions (e.g. rancidity)
- reduce the respiration rate of crops
High level: - maintain red color of fresh (muscular) meat (i.e. >80%)

37
5.4.4.2 MAP
• Optimal atmosphere is unique for every single product (by trial)

(Fellows, 2000)

38
5.4.5 Preservative
5.4.5.1 Natural Preservative
– Fermentation (e.g. Bacteriocins , Nisin
lactic acid – toxic to other microorganisms)
– Smoke
– Organic acids
– Spices/herbs
– Others like Chinese medicine
• Lots of natural chemicals that can specifically inhibit
the growth of bacteria and food oxidation

39
5.4.5 Preservative
5.4.5.2 Artificial Preservative: Chemical (synthetic )
Some common food preservatives
5.4.5.2.1 Antimicrobial
– Organic acids/ester: sorbic acid , benzoic acid ,
propionic acid , lactic acid, malic acid , acetic acid
– Sulfite /sulfur dioxide
– Nitrite /Nitrate
5.4.5.2.2 Antioxidant
– Ascorbic acid (vitamin C)
– Gallic acid
– Tocopherols (vitamin E)
– BHT/BHA

40
5.5 Other Food Preservation Technologies
5.5.1 Membrane filtration or Reverse osmosis
– With aids of pressure, use the membrane (2-5µm pour size) to
physically filter out the microorganisms and other big
molecules
5.5.2 UV and Ozone
– Relatively effective to kill the microorganism in environment,
water source and food containers
5.6.2.1 UV: good penetration energy to cause microbe’s DNA mutation
and kill the microbe
5.6.2.2 Ozone: strong and active oxidant which can burst the cell
membrane of microbes and interfere their metabolisms
Application: Bottling water
41
https://www.bonaqua.com.hk/

Water Technologies,
Siemens
http://www.agapewater.com/res/Defaul
t/roedi50gpm.jpg

http://www.degremont.com/

42
5.5 Other Food Preservation Technologies
5.5.3 Food Irradiation (Cold sterilization)
– Approved use in US since 1963 and well adapted
from 1985
– Ionizing radiation (type of energy form)
– For food use: mainly Gamma ray
• good penetrating power
• energy not high enough to make food itself
radioactive
• To kill micro-organism and inactive the
enzymes
– by direct high energy ion hits
– indirect produce of strong oxidizing agent
(hydrogen peroxide) from water
• Retard bioactivity: e.g. germination
Source: www.cat.gov.in-

43
 5.5 Other Food Preservation Technologies
5.5.4 High Pressure Process (HPP) or
Pascalization
– Cold Pasteurization
conduct at ambient temperature
– Advantage
• Killing effect on microorganism by high pressure, Source: www.hiperbaric.com-
but no obvious effect on the food (due to slow
rising/descending rate)
– Disadvantage
• High capital/operation costs
• Time consuming
• Not too effective
– Usually apply for a high-price “premium food”
e.g. Raw oyster, lobster, etc Source:
www.wormsandgermsblog.com-
– Food require cold storage (as pasteurize only)
44
Key Points of the Lesson
• One of the main purpose of food processing: to control biological
hazard of food product, by reducing the microbe and inactivate the
enzymes in food, thus to increase the food product’s shelf-life
• The Five key control features (Hurdles)
– oC/oF
• Process Temp (High/Low) and Storage Temp (Low)
– pH
• pH 4.6: define of acidic food
– Aw
• Unbound water: different from water content ( <0.85: Low aw )
– Eh
• Oxidation and Reduction: food and environment
– Preservative
• Natural and Artificial
• Other technologies
– Irradiation, Membrane filtration, UV, Ozone, HPP, etc.

45
Suggest Readings (Lesson 5)
• G. S. Tucker, 2016, Food Biodeterioration and Preservation, 2nd
Edition, Wiley Blackwell, Chichester, West Sussex, UK.
– Ch3: Thermal Processing; Ch4: Food Chilling; Ch5: Freezing; Ch6: Drying
as a Means of Controlling Food Biodeterioration; Ch7: Modified
Atmosphere Packaging (MAP); Ch8: Hurdle Techniques; and Ch9 Novel
Commercial Preservation Methods, pp60-220

Reference Readings
• N.N. Potter and J.H. Hotchkiss, 1995, Food Science, 5th Edition,
Chapman & Hall, US.
– Ch7: Food Deterioration and its Controls; Ch8: Heat Preservation and
Processing Ch9: Cold Preservation and Processing; Ch10: Food
Dehydration and Concentration; and Ch11: Irradiation, Microwave and
Ohmic Processing of Foods, pp113-263
• P.J. Fellows, 2009, Food processing technology : principles and
practice, 3rd Edition, Woodhead Publishing Ltd., CRC Press, Boca
Raton, Fla.
46