Advancements in Food Processing Technologies and Their Impact on Nutritional Quality: A Review

Abstract

The past few decades have witnessed commendable shifts in food processing technologies based on the requirements of consumers towards healthier, safer, and minimally processed food products. The current paper is a review article about the recent advances in thermal and non-thermal processes in the food sector, i.e. high-pressure processing, pulsed electric fields, ultrasound-assisted processing, cold plasma processing, microwave-assisted extraction, ohmic heating, and infrared drying and its connection with the nutritional quality of the processed foods in specific. Pasteurisation, sterilisation and retort processing are some of the most commonly used traditional methods of thermal processing in the Indian food industry, but are linked to the high loss of heat-sensitive vitamins, bioactive compounds, and essential amino acids. Emerging new non-thermal technologies offer promising solutions that have the potential to inactivate pathogenic microorganisms and spoilage enzymes and still preserve thermolabile nutrients, natural colour, flavour and textural properties. This review will critically examine the mechanistic principles of each technology, their working parameters, scalability and their commercial viability in the Indian context. The synergistic application of the hurdle technology, two or more processing technologies jointly used to give improved microbial safety with minimal nutritional losses, is also described. Nutritional impacts of these technologies on macronutrients, micronutrients, phytochemicals, antioxidant activity and protein digestibility are discussed in the context of commodities of interest in India, including milk and dairy products, cereals and millets, fruits and vegetables, spices and pulses. Also taken into consideration are Indian regulatory systems of new food processing technologies like FSSAI guidelines. The chapter is a comprehensive synthesis of the existing literature on science and a prognosis of research directions in the future in order to optimise food processing to achieve the greatest retention of nutrients and food safety.