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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Microbial and Chemical Food Safety » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #330501
Research Project: Integration of Multiple Interventions to Enhance Microbial Safety, Quality, and Shelf-life of Foods

Location: Microbial and Chemical Food Safety

Title: Effects of pulsed electric fields pretreatment and drying method on drying characteristics and nutritive quality of blueberries

Author
item YU, YUANSHAN - Guangdong Academy Of Agricultural Sciences
item Jin, Zhonglin
item XIAO, GENGSHENG - Guangdong Academy Of Agricultural Sciences

Submitted to: Journal of Food Processing and Preservation
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/17/2017
Publication Date: 3/17/2017
Citation: Yu, Y., Jin, Z.T., Xiao, G. 2017. Effects of pulsed electric fields pretreatment and drying method on drying characteristics and nutritive quality of blueberries. Journal of Food Processing and Preservation. doi: 10.1111/jfpp.13303.

Interpretive Summary: Drying or dehydration is a popular method to preserve fruits, but it is a time consuming process and could cause the loss of quality and nutritive values. In this study, fresh blueberries were pretreated with pulsed electric fields (PEF) and then dried. The PEF pretreatment significantly increased the drying efficiency, reducing the drying time by 2 to 30 hours, and did not significantly influence the nutritive quality. The pretreatment could save production cost without affecting the nutritive quality of blueberries.

Technical Abstract: Fresh blueberries were pretreated with pulsed electric fields (PEF) at 2 kV/cm and then dried at 45, 60 and 75 degrees C by conventional hot air or vacuum drying. Drying characteristics and changes in contents of moisture, anthocyanin, total phenolics, vitamin C, and antioxidant activity in the blueberry samples during drying were investigated. The effects of PEF-pretreatment on drying efficiency and nutritive quality of blueberries were dependent on drying methods and temperatures. The PEF-pretreatment before vacuum drying significantly (P<0.05) reduced the drying time of blueberry samples, from 6 to 4 hours, 10 to 7 hours, and 70 to 40 hours at 75, 60, and 45 degrees C, respectively. The PEF-pretreatment didn’t significantly (P>0.05) influence the retention of nutritional values before drying and also had the least impact on the nutritive quality of dried samples during vacuum drying at 75 degrees C as compared with that of non-PEF-pretreatment. The Weibull model fitted the drying data of blueberries well.