Quality Evaluation of Vegetables Processed By
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QUALITY EVALUATION OF VEGETABLES PROCESSED BY MICROWAVE STERILIZATION/PASTEURIZATION By JING PENG A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY Department of Biological Systems Engineering May 2014 To the Faculty of Washington State University: The members of the Committee appointed to examine the dissertation of JING PENG find it satisfactory and recommend that it be accepted. ______________________________ Juming Tang, Ph.D, Chair ______________________________ Diane M. Barrett, Ph.D ______________________________ Shyam S. Sablani, Ph.D ______________________________ Joseph R. Powers, Ph.D ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Having read so many theses, it is finally my turn to write my own and express my gratitude to the people who supported me all the way throughout my Ph.D study here in Pullman. It feels so good! First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my primary advisor, Dr. Juming Tang, who is a role model in my professional development, gives me support and guidance, and keeps delivering positive energy to me whenever I need it. I also greatly thank my committee members Drs. Diane M. Barrett (from UC Davis), Shyam S. Sablani and Joseph R. Powers for their continuous and valuable advice and suggestions during my whole research study. I am so lucky to have these professionals and experts in their own areas of expertise on my committee. Thank you for all of your efforts to maintain multiple- campus communication and make meetings happen (in person or through conference calls). I really appreciate that! I would also like to thank Drs. Boon Chew and John Fellman for providing advices and suggestions for my research and study. My great thanks as well go to Dr. Frank Liu, Dr. Zhongwei Tang, Dr. Jae-Hyung Mah, Stewart Bohnet, Huimin Lin, Frank Younce, Peter Gray, Feng Li, Vince Himsl, Jonathan Lomber and Galina Mikhaylenko, for their technical support during my research. I would like to extend my gratitude to my previous and current Food Engineering Club colleagues who have been with me these years, Shunshan Jiao, SumeetDhawan, Ofero Abagon Caparino, Fermin Jr. Pangilinan Resurreccion, Roopesh Syamaladevi, BaluNayak, Yang Jiao, Wenjia Zhang, Donglei Luan, Ellen Rose Bornhorst, iii Rossana Villa Rojas, Kanishka Bhunia, Deepali Jain, Poonam Bajaj, Hongchao Zhang, Rajat Tyagi and Ravi Tadapaneni. I am also grateful for support and advice from my other friends Keke, Iris, Qianqian, Hong, Liang, Jeff, Angie, Susan, Daisy and those who showed up in my life here in Pullman and who make it more beautiful. Last but not least, I would like to thank my dearest parents and my young brother Xuanqi, who support me unconditionally and have been endless sources of encouragement and love for me. I would like to delicate this thesis to them, and to myself. iv QUALITY EVALUATION OF VEGETABLES PROCESSED BY MICROWAVE STERILIZATION/PASTEURIZATION ABSTRACT by Jing Peng, Ph.D. Washington State University May, 2014 Chair: Juming Tang Microwave (MW) heating overcomes the disadvantages of slow conductive/convective heat transfer inherent in conventional thermal processes, and therefore has the potential to produce safe and high quality vegetable products. This research was conducted to evaluate the quality attributes of pre-packaged diced carrots after MW pasteurization and of diced tomatoes after MW sterilization, in comparison with those subjected to conventional thermal processing. A systematic study of developing MW sterilization or pasteurization processes for tomato and carrot products, and evaluating their influence on product quality is presented in this thesis. A MW-assisted sterilization thermal process (MAST) achieving a target F value of no less than 6 min was developed for processing diced tomatoes packaged in 8-oz pouches, which can deliver a 5D thermal treatment to Bacillus coagulans ATCC 8038 spores. For diced carrots, MW assisted pasteurization processes (MAP) with F90°C = 3 min and F90°C = 10 min were developed to achieve at least 6 D reductions of NP C. botulinum type E spores. Thermal resistance of the target v bacterium (B. coagulans spores) in tomatoes was characterized, and kinetics of texture degradation of carrots were investigated for developing thermal processes for these products. Tomato/carrot dices with added salts (NaCl/CaCl2) at commonly used commercial levels were processed, and their dielectric properties were determined and used for computer simulation of heating patterns and cold spot locations in sample pouches. The quality related attributes of processed tomatoes (drained weight, soluble solids, color, texture, ascorbic acid, and lycopene content) and carrots (color, texture, pectin methylesterase activity, and carotenoids) were assessed. The results of quality evaluation of the processed products showed that the impact of MW processing on the quality of vegetables depends on the characteristics of the vegetables and the specific quality parameters tested. vi Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 1. Research background and problem statements ..................................................................................... 1 2. Objectives ............................................................................................................................................. 5 3. Dissertation outline ............................................................................................................................... 6 References ................................................................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 2. Literature Review-Thermal Pasteurization of Vegetables......................................................... 14 1. Pathogens of concern and process design for thermal pasteurization ................................................. 14 1.1. Regulations and standards of pasteurization in the U.S. .............................................................. 15 1.2. Regulations and standards of pasteurization in Europe ............................................................... 18 2. Effect of thermal pasteurization on vegetable quality ......................................................................... 19 2.1. Color ............................................................................................................................................ 19 2.2. Texture ......................................................................................................................................... 20 2.3. Carotenoids .................................................................................................................................. 22 2.4. Phenolics and antioxidant activity ............................................................................................... 24 2.5. Vitamins ....................................................................................................................................... 25 2.6. Other components ........................................................................................................................ 26 3. Enzyme, storage and shelf-life of pasteurized vegetables .................................................................. 27 References ............................................................................................................................................... 30 Chapter 3. Thermal Inactivation Kinetics of Bacillus coagulans Spores in Tomato Juice ......................... 55 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 56 2. Materials and Methods ........................................................................................................................ 57 2.1. Microorganisms ........................................................................................................................... 57 2.2. Preparation of B. coagulans spores .............................................................................................. 58 2.3. Preparation of tomato juice .......................................................................................................... 58 2.4. Evaluation of cold-storage time on the viability of B. coagulans in sterile distilled water and its thermal resistance in tomato juice ........................................................................................... 59 2.5. Preparation and pre-conditioning of a mixture of spore suspension and tomato juice ................ 59 2.6. Evaluation of heat resistance of B. coagulans spores using oil bath ............................................ 60 2.7. Evaluation of heat resistance of B. coagulans spores using a capillary tube setup ...................... 61 3. Results and Discussion ....................................................................................................................... 62 vii 3.1. Effect of cold-storage time on the viability of B. coagulans in sterile distilled water and its thermal resistance in tomato juice ....................................................................................................... 62 3.2. Effect of pH on the thermal resistance of B. coagulans ATCC 8038 spores ............................... 64 3.3. Effect