Traditional food storage methods and new technologies

Abstract

Introduction

Nutrients deteriorate rapidly when interfered with by humans and left naturally. As the source of this history, data storage practices to date have always been important to people. While choosing the appropriate method for storing foods, it is necessary to pay attention to a method that will affect the flavor, smell, appearance and structure of the food in the least amount, as well as eliminating the factors that cause spoilage (1).

Some of the methods used for food storage are cold or freeze preservation, heat treatment applications, drying, chemical preservative addition, irradiation, and controlled and modified atmosphere.

One of the most used traditional methods in food storage is heat treatment applications. Another common nutrient storage method is the control of water activity (2).

Today, the increase in conscious consumers has led to a decrease in the interest in foods processed with traditional methods. The reason for this is the use of high temperatures in classical heat treatment methods, resulting in nutritional value losses.

This review aimed to emphasize the importance of food storage, as well as to review new and traditional food storage methods.

Food Storage: Definition, History and Importance: Food storage means to procure, store or store for future use. Beins degrade quickly when left unattended by humans and left in their natural state. Foods that are well stored have many benefits, some of which can be counted as extending the storage period of food, providing ease of transportation, providing safe products for health, and facilitating the marketing of foods (3).

Traditional Food Storage Methods: Methods used in traditional food storage include boiling, pasteurization, sterilization, cooling, drying and concentration.

Food Storage with Heat Treatment Applications: Three types of heat treatment are used in the food industry: boiling, pasteurization and sterilization.

Nutrient Storage by Control of Water Activity: There are various nutrient storage methods based on the principle of keeping water activity under control. These methods are three types as freezing, drying and concentrating.

Food Storage Methods with New Technologies

Some of the new food storage methods are freeze drying, edible films and coatings, irradiation, microwave, infrared heating, ohmic heating, radiofrequency, high pressure, ultrasound, ultraviolet, hover electric field and smart packaging applications.

Freeze Drying :In this technology, the water in the food is frozen at low temperatures and sublimated directly from solid to gas in vacuum. Compared to other methods, the freeze-drying method preserves the color, smell, aroma and composition of the food more (14).

Coating Foods with Edible Films: These coatings; Today, it is used to improve the quality characteristics of foods and extend their shelf life. It also prevents unwanted color formation, lipid oxidation and microbiological deterioration in foods by being combined with antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds (23).

Irradiation: Food irradiation is defined as interfering with the food with the ionized rays. Food irradiation can also be defined as a method in which certain doses of ionizing radiation are applied by destroying the DNA of microorganisms, reducing the microbial load (29).

Microwave: Pasteurization and sterilization applications, which are done in 30-45 minutes with traditional methods, are done in as little as 3-5 minutes when microwave is used. Therefore, microwave application does not cause any change in the flavor and aroma of the food. Thus, the shelf life is extended without losing the quality of the food (31).

Infrared [IR (Infrared)] Heatingn: Infrared heating is a method that is effective with heating originating from an electromagnetic energy located between the visible light and microwave regions. With this method, the water vapor pressure of the food increases and the food heats up (33).

Ohmic Heating: Ohmic heating is widely used in the processing of foods that are packaged aseptically and stored at room temperature (such as canned fruit juice). The advantages of ohmic heating include heating food in a shorter time, less nutrient loss, and high energy efficiency (34).

Radio Frequency (RF): In this method, food is placed between two plates, which creates a high-frequency electrical field. This electrical field activates the molecules in the food, especially the water molecules. With the effect of molecular movement, the food begins to heat up (35).

High pressure: In this technique, pressure is used instead of high temperature. The application time of this pressure ranges from a few milliseconds to 20 minutes. However, this period can be up to 30 minutes in foods suspected of having pathogenic microorganisms (36).

Ultrasound: This technique is based on the principle of releasing energy with sound waves that produce 20,000 or more vibrations per second. This released energy has an antimicrobial effect on microorganisms in foods by causing temperature or pressure changes in the environment (37).

Ultraviolet: UV radiation can destroy all microorganisms due to its short wavelength and high energy properties (38).

Emphatic Electric Field (PEF)/High Electric Field Drying Method (HEF): The basis of this method is based on the destruction of the high electrical power applied to the food in microseconds, in a very small time frame, and the activity of enzymes and microorganisms (39).

Smart Packaging: Today, with the increase in packaging methods, the most suitable packaging material and technology for different foods is selected and used. Thus, both the shelf life of the food is extended and the quality and freshness of the food is preserved (41-43).

Conclusion and Recommendations

In addition to traditional food storage methods, advanced storage methods such as freeze drying, irradiation, high pressure, ultrasound, ultraviolet, microwave, edible film coating, smart packaging, active and smart packaging systems are in line with the increasing demands for continuous monitoring of food quality and extending the shelf life of foods. has emerged. These methods have the characteristics of offering higher quality foods to consumers. However, the use of these storage methods is still limited due to their high cost and technical difficulties. In order for these methods to be used more frequently, all these problems should be resolved and more research should be done.