BACKGROUND Papaya fruit is highly nutritive, but very fragile, and thus has a limited shelf life. Drying is essential to preserve it for longer durations. In this work, osmotic dehydration (OD) with and without ultrasound (US) was applied to papaya slices as a pretreatment in conjugation with vacuum (VD) and convective air drying (AD). Drying was carried out in a novel dryer. Moisture content, drying time, water activity, total color change, total phenolic content, radical scavenging activity, texture, and Fourier‐transform infrared (FTIR) spectrums were evaluated for fresh and dried papaya slices. RESULTS It was observed that US‐assisted osmotic dehydration (USOD) followed by VD had the lowest drying time with highest retention of phenols and antioxidants as compared to other drying techniques. Higher phenols and antioxidants in US‐pretreated samples were attributed to the release of trapped intra‐cellular polyphenols by cavitation. However, the color characteristics and texture of OD pretreatment followed by convective AD slices were found to be better. Color retention could be due to carotenoid preservation, which would be degraded in other treatments, whereas lower brittleness was associated with lower pectin. Infrared spectroscopy confirmed the retention of phytochemicals and antioxidants in dried papaya slices that were subjected to pretreatment. Conclusion Pretreatment before drying enhances the end product quality of dried papaya slices. The results of this study highlight that USOD‐VD is effective for nutrition preservation while OD‐AD is suitable for preserving physical characteristics. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry

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Studies targeting the process standardization of khaja, a traditional Indian sweet, have not been reported and require attention given its wide demand. In this work, the kinetics of change in quality parameters of fried khaja was investigated at different frying temperatures (160-200°C) and time (1-5 min). The lightness parameter of khaja decreased from 82.80 to 58.09-46.04, while the redness parameter increased from 0.42 to 5.63-11.11 for the samples fried for 5 min, at different temperatures. The yellowness parameter increased with time at lower temperatures (160-170°C) and showed a non-linear trend at temperatures >170°C. The hardness and moisture content of the samples decreased whereas the total fat increased after 5 min of frying.Microstructural changes associated with cellular collapse and starch gelatinization were also observed. The color parameters followed zero-order whereas, moisture and total fat followed first-order kinetics. Practical applicationsThe growing demand toward ready-to-eat foods has promoted the snacks industry.Traditional sweets are very popular among each generation, but longer preparation times and tough protocols are major inconveniences in consumers' busy schedules.Khaja is manufactured by unorganized small-scale enterprises leading to non-standard and variability in quality. Standardizing the manufacturing process would help food industries to produce uniform and good quality khaja. This study is the first report that deals with deep-frying and quality characteristics of khaja. Results of this study would facilitate optimization of frying conditions and developing efficient process technology for good quality khaja production.

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The increase in health awareness, changes in eating habits, and improved living standards have raised the demand for probiotic-based functional foods (Granato et al., 2010). Functional foods may provide added functional benefits beyond the fundamental role of providing nutrients for consumers' well-being. The most widespread functional ingredients, along with probiotics, are polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), prebiotics/synbiotics, vitamins, proteins, fibers, and antioxidants (Granato et al., 2020). Probiotics are living bacteria that, when given in sufficient quantities, provide health advantages (FAO/ WHO, 2001). The most widely used microbial genera possessing probiotic attributes are lactic acid bacteria (Singh et al., 2020). Most have been granted "Generally Recognized As Safe" (GRAS) status by different regulatory agencies, which refers to few or no health risks to the consumers after ingestion (Penner et al., 2005;Ranadheera et al., 2010). Some other bacteria and yeasts used as probiotics are mentioned in Table 1.The possible route for administering probiotics is oral, vaginal, topical, and rectal (Sanders, 2009). Probiotics' ability to maintain gut microbiota balance, immune system, and overall intestinal health and physiology is well described in the medical sector (Bhushan et al., 2019;Valero-Cases et al., 2020). Other health benefits linked with probiotic consumption are alleviation of lactose intolerance