Induced Changes in Aroma Compounds of Foods Treated with High Hydrostatic Pressure: A Review

Abstract

Since conventional thermal processing can have detrimental consequences on aroma compounds, non-thermal technologies such as high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) have been explored. HHP may alter the weak chemical bonds of enzymes. These changes can modify the secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structures of key enzymes in the production of aroma compounds. This can result in either an increase or decrease in their content, along with reactions or physical processes associated with a reduction of molecular volume. This article provides a comprehensive review of HHP treatment’s effects on the content of lipid-derived aroma compounds, aldehydes, alcohols, ketones, esters, lactones, terpenes, and phenols, on various food matrices of vegetable and animal origin. The content of aldehydes and ketones in food samples increased when subjected to HHP, while the content of alcohols and phenols decreased, probably due to oxidative processes. Both ester and lactone concentrations appeared to decline due to hydrolysis reactions. There is no clear tendency regarding terpenes concentration when subjected to HHP treatments. Because of the various effects of HHP on aroma compounds, an area of opportunity arises to carry out future studies that allow optimizing and controlling the effect.

Effects of High Hydrostatic Pressure Combined with Vacuum-Freeze Drying on the Aroma-Active Compounds in Blended Pumpkin, Mango, and Jujube Juice

“…As reported, HHP can alter the compositions and quantities of volatile compounds in many fruit and vegetable juices and wines [ 44 , 45 , 46 ]. The reason may be that HHP alters the weak chemical bonds of enzymes, thus modifying the secondary to quaternary structures of key enzymes in the production of aroma compounds [ 1 ]. In general, the VFD process results in a decrease in volatile compounds.…”

“…Moreover, the level of 1-octen-3-ol in HHP-treated kiwifruit pulp beverage and black truffle significantly increased or appeared after the treatment [ 54 , 66 ]. This result may be interpreted as the activation of some glycosidases by HHP, which released the glycoside-bound alcohol in blended juices [ 1 ]. Five kinds of alcohols were detected only in HHP–VFD-treated rehydrated juices, of which carveol was a terpene alcohol that contributed a woody turpeny note to mango puree [ 67 ].…”

“…Methyl butyrate and ethyl butyrate contents decreased in response to pressure intensity. The precursors of esters in these matrices may be lipids and amino acids, and the key enzyme in the biosynthesis was the alcohol acyltransferase, the activity of which seemingly dropped under pressure [ 1 , 74 , 75 ]. Moreover, HHP–VFD further decreased ( p < 0.05) the contents of esters, except for ethyl acetate, though VFD can extremely retain the ester content due to the lower temperature compared with other drying methods [ 76 ].…”

“…Flavor quality is a composite of oronasal sensory responses to aromas and taste, and is the main attribute controlling consumers’ choices of fruit and vegetable juices [ 1 ]. Ready-to-drink (RTD) fruit and vegetable juices are increasingly preferred by consumers since they have similar fresh flavors without inconvenient operations (e.g., washing, peeling, or cutting) compared with fresh fruits and vegetables.…”

Characterization of Polyphenol and Volatile Fractions of Californian-Style Black Olives and Innovative Application of E-nose for Acrylamide Determination

“…For example, the content of phenols, alcohols, and esters decreased as the F0 increased. However, the aldehyde content decreased, probably due to oxidative processes [ 42 ], with the aldehydes being the main products of lipid oxidation and amino acid degradation [ 43 ].…”