High–Pressure Processing vs. Thermal Treatment: Effect on the Stability of Polyphenols in Strawberry and Apple Products

Abstract

Polyphenols are important bioactive compounds that are affected by processing. The consumer’s demand for minimally processed products contributes to the increase in non-thermal technologies such as high-pressure processing (HPP) in the food industry. This review is aimed at critically discussing the positive and negative effects of thermal treatment (TT) and HPP on the stability of different polyphenol families in agro-food products obtained from strawberry and apple, two of the most used fruits in food processing. Our findings show that the phenolic content was affected by processing, fruit type, polyphenol family, and storage conditions (time and temperature) of the final product. To increase shelf life, manufacturers aiming to preserve the natural content of polyphenols need to find the sweet spot between polyphenol stability and product shelf-life since the residual enzyme activity from HPP can affect polyphenols negatively.

Lactate content, total polyphenols and antioxidant activity of selected commercial yogurts from the Serbian market

“…well as processing and storage conditions of the product (Aaby et al, 2012;Mahmood et Arfaoui, 2021;Salazar-Orbea et al, 2021). All aforementioned factors could have been affected the total content of polyphenols in yogurts from this study.…”

Untargeted Metabolomics Reveals New Markers of Food Processing for Strawberry and Apple Purees

“…Some traditional unit operations used in the fruit industry include peeling, chopping, crushing, sieving, and thermal treatments [ 2 ]. Many studies have determined how different processing techniques and conditions affect some sensitive nutrients (e.g., vitamins) and bioactive compounds, as well as the quality characteristics of fruit products [ 3 , 4 ].…”

“…Nevertheless, in light of an increasing demand of consumers towards minimally processed and healthier products [ 5 ], non-thermal technologies such as high-pressure processing (HPP), cold atmospheric plasma, and pulsed electric fields, among others, have been developed [ 6 ]. It has been shown that the degree of processing in thermal and non-thermal processing techniques affects the stability of polyphenols in fruit products [ 3 ]. However, the degree of processing has not been fully assessed yet, as many authors categorize the degree of processing according to the number of ingredients in a food product or to the extent and purpose of food processing, and not based on the process itself [ 7 , 8 , 9 ].…”

Thermal and Non-Thermal Treatments to Preserve and Encourage Bioactive Compounds in Fruit- and Vegetable-Based Products

“…Five original papers have been published in this Special Issue which address the third topic—dealing with the effects of thermal and non-thermal treatments on fruit-based products (beverages and purées) [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. In the first study, by Zhao et al [ 8 ], the aim was to determine the effect of thermo-sonication combined with nisin and thermal pasteurization treatments on the quality attributes—including microbial and enzyme inactivation and the physicochemical, nutritional, functional, and sensory qualities—of orange juice.…”

“…Nevertheless, green non-thermal technologies are being widely investigated to reduce costs and make possible more sustainable production processes without affecting the nutritional and sensory quality of beverages. The fourth study, by Salazar-Orbea et al [ 11 ], aimed to discuss the positive and negative effects of thermal treatment and high-pressure processing on the stability of different polyphenol families in agro-food products obtained from strawberry and apple, two of the most-used fruits in food processing. The main findings showed that the phenolic content was affected by the processing, fruit type, polyphenol family, and storage conditions (time and temperature) of the final product.…”