Drying Technology Evolution and Global Concerns Related to Food Security and Sustainability

Abstract

Undoubtedly, rapid population growth has sharply increased global food demand. Although the green revolution, accompanied by food industrialization practices, helped a lot in meeting this demand, the food gap is still huge. Regardless of COVID-19, due to that 14% of the world’s food is lost before even reaching the market, and thus the food insecurity prevalence by rate (9.7%), where the food losses are valued at $400 billion annually according to FAO. In the face of such issues related to food insecurity and food losses, drying technology since its inception has been known as the most common operation in food processing and preservation. However, the excessive use of the drying process and exposure to heat for long periods led to a severe deterioration in the physicochemical quality characteristics of these products. At the same time, growing attention on human health through monitoring the quality and safety of food to avoid chronic diseases led to increasing awareness of the consumer to obtaining products with high nutritional value. Therefore, there has been a great and rapid evolution in drying technology to preserve food with high quality. Hence, this chapter aims to shed light on the drying technology evolution in food processing and preservation as one of the most important post-harvest treatments in the agriculture field.

Applied insight: studying reducing the carbon footprint of the drying process and its environmental impact and financial return

“…Therefore, the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy is a necessary priority. Drying agricultural products is one of the most important food processes aimed at preserving food and extending its shelf life to achieve sustainability and food security (Kumar et al, 2014;Calín-Sánchez et al, 2020;Matavel et al, 2022;Palumbo et al, 2022;Petikirige et al, 2022;Ibrahim et al, 2023a). Traditional drying methods that operate based on traditional energy sources, whether electric energy or fossil fuels, consume excessive energy and, thus, emit huge amounts of GHGs (Motevali et al, 2014;Sivakumar et al, 2016;Motevali and Koloor, 2017;Kaveh et al, 2020;Kaveh et al, 2021;Matavel et al, 2022;Ibrahim et al, 2023a).…”

“…Drying agricultural products is one of the most important food processes aimed at preserving food and extending its shelf life to achieve sustainability and food security (Kumar et al, 2014;Calín-Sánchez et al, 2020;Matavel et al, 2022;Palumbo et al, 2022;Petikirige et al, 2022;Ibrahim et al, 2023a). Traditional drying methods that operate based on traditional energy sources, whether electric energy or fossil fuels, consume excessive energy and, thus, emit huge amounts of GHGs (Motevali et al, 2014;Sivakumar et al, 2016;Motevali and Koloor, 2017;Kaveh et al, 2020;Kaveh et al, 2021;Matavel et al, 2022;Ibrahim et al, 2023a). The most important disadvantages of traditional dryers is not only the massive depletion of non-renewable energy sources but also their low efficiency as continuous exposure of products to high temperatures for long periods leads to deterioration of quality characteristics (Kumar et al, 2005;Sreekumar et al, 2008;Bi et al, 2015;Maisnam et al, 2017;Lingayat et al, 2020;Udomkun et al, 2020;Vanlauwe and Müller, 2020;Ibrahim et al, 2023a).…”

“…Traditional drying methods that operate based on traditional energy sources, whether electric energy or fossil fuels, consume excessive energy and, thus, emit huge amounts of GHGs (Motevali et al, 2014;Sivakumar et al, 2016;Motevali and Koloor, 2017;Kaveh et al, 2020;Kaveh et al, 2021;Matavel et al, 2022;Ibrahim et al, 2023a). The most important disadvantages of traditional dryers is not only the massive depletion of non-renewable energy sources but also their low efficiency as continuous exposure of products to high temperatures for long periods leads to deterioration of quality characteristics (Kumar et al, 2005;Sreekumar et al, 2008;Bi et al, 2015;Maisnam et al, 2017;Lingayat et al, 2020;Udomkun et al, 2020;Vanlauwe and Müller, 2020;Ibrahim et al, 2023a). Therefore, one of the most important solutions to reducing GHG emissions in the food processing sector is to replace these traditional drying systems that deplete traditional energy sources with modern and innovative systems that rely on accurate control systems and use renewable energy sources, where renewable energy sources aim to reduce the traditional energy consumed or rely on clean energy only, which, in turn, leads to a great reduction in GHG emissions.…”

“…On the other hand, modern drying methods such as microwave, vacuum, infrared, and freeze drying lead to higher quality but consume a lot of energy. Although traditional open-sun drying does not consume any energy, it has many disadvantages such as food loss and a sharp decrease in quality (Vadivambal and Jayas et al, 2010;Dak and Pareek, 2014;Zielinska et al, 2015;Belwal et al, 2022;Wardhani et al, 2022;Ibrahim et al, 2023a). Solar drying systems, whether they depend solely on solar energy or are self-controlled hybrid drying systems, can achieve a significant reduction in CO 2 emissions as a result of a considerable reduction in the traditional energy consumed.…”

“…Moreover, the hybrid dryers had a greater quality than open-air sun-drying, and it had diminished 31.8 tons of CO 2 . Furthermore, many investigations concluded that hybrid dryers used on a variety of agro-products were ideal for drying crops quickly while maintaining great product quality (Ferreira et al, 2007;Eltawil et al, 2018;Capossio et al, 2022;Jahromi et al, 2022;Ibrahim et al, 2023a;Suresh et al, 2023). Undoubtedly, the industrial sector devours the largest share of the energy produced and, thus, contributes a large percentage to the increase in GHGs.…”