Applications of ultrasound in food technology: Processing, preservation and extraction

Abstract

Ultrasound is well known to have a significant effect on the rate of various processes in the food industry. Using ultrasound, full reproducible food processes can now be completed in seconds or minutes with high reproducibility, reducing the processing cost, simplifying manipulation and work-up, giving higher purity of the final product, eliminating post-treatment of waste water and consuming only a fraction of the time and energy normally needed for conventional processes. Several processes such as freezing, cutting, drying, tempering, bleaching, sterilization, and extraction have been applied efficiently in the food industry. The advantages of using ultrasound for food processing, includes: more effective mixing and micro-mixing, faster energy and mass transfer, reduced thermal and concentration gradients, reduced temperature, selective extraction, reduced equipment size, faster response to process extraction control, faster start-up, increased production, and elimination of process steps. Food processes performed under the action of ultrasound are believed to be affected in part by cavitation phenomena and mass transfer enhancement. This review presents a complete picture of current knowledge on application of ultrasound in food technology including processing, preservation and extraction. It provides the necessary theoretical background and some details about ultrasound the technology, the technique, and safety precautions. We will also discuss some of the factors which make the combination of food processing and ultrasound one of the most promising research areas in the field of modern food engineering.

Power ultrasound in meat processing

“…An additional advantage is that muscles cooked with ultrasound have two to five times less cooking losses that meat cooked by boiling and convection due to a more efficient heat transfer mechanism. This suggests that ultrasound is helpful in preparing precooked meats for use in restaurants or in the prepareddishes industry (Chemat, Zill-e-Huma, & Khan, 2011).…”

Physico-chemical properties of gelatin from bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) scales by ultrasound-assisted extraction

“…As time increased, more and more fish scales were broken, and gelatin was released gradually (Zhu et al 2009). Therefore, the mechanical effects and acoustic cavitation of ultrasound provided a greater penetration of solvent into cellular materials and improved mass transfer (Chemat and Khan 2011).…”

Ultrasound-assisted aqueous enzymatic extraction of oil from perilla seeds and determination of its physicochemical properties, fatty acid composition and antioxidant activity

“…Ultrasound has been shown to accelerate heat and mass transfer and is a powerful alternative to conventional extraction techniques. The strong mass transmission effect, which is mainly caused by cavitational effects (Chemat et al, 2011), could be used to enhance the extraction efficiency of AEE for edible oils. Ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) has many advantages, including high extraction yields, high reproducibility, low solvent use, short extraction times, low running costs, limited environment impact and easy adaptation to industrial scale use (Vuong et al, 2014).…”