Heating is an ancient method of food processing that ensures food safety, but to some extent changes the appearance of the food and destroys the nutrients. Fortunately, non-thermal processing technology is gradually developing, and more nutritious and environmentally friendly food processing methods are increasingly favored by the market. However, China Food Machinery Equipment Network believes that although China's non-thermal processing technology has broad prospects, technical research needs to be further in-depth, and relevant food regulations and standards must be continuously improved in line with the promotion of this technology.
Non-thermal processing advantages
Not long ago, the 2016 International Conference on Food Non-Heat Processing, co-sponsored by the China Food Science and Technology Society and China Agricultural University, was held in Beijing. At the meeting, authoritative experts in relevant fields at home and abroad reported new developments in food non-thermal processing technology, and conducted in-depth exchanges on non-thermal processing technology basic research, product innovation, equipment development and industrial application. The seminar promoted the “non-thermal processing†technology of food to the public and promoted the research and development of non-thermal processing technology.
According to the author's understanding, traditional food sterilization is mainly based on heat sterilization. Although it has many advantages, it will lead to seven major changes in the color, aroma, taste, texture, nutrition, function and safety of food during the thermal processing. In contrast, non-thermal processing not only kills microorganisms in food, but also maintains the inherent nutrients, texture, color and freshness of foods. It has low sterilization temperature, low environmental pollution, and low energy consumption and emissions. Such advantages have become a new growth point and emerging industry in the international food processing industry.
Among the many non-thermal processing technologies, high pressure processing (HPP) is the most successful commercial non-thermal sterilization process of this century. HPP is a huge change for processors. OldNeighborhoodFoods, a 102-year-old meat company in Massachusetts, installed a 420-liter Hiperbaric high-pressure device at a seafood factory near Danvers two years ago to enter the fastest growing health prefabricated food sector. This technology has been in a rapid increase of 38% in the last five years.
In addition, the US Food Safety Modernization Act is promoting the application of UV sterilization. Traditional pasteurization requires more sites and storage tanks, requires operators, and requires a lot of energy to boil water. Operating costs typically exceed $300,000, which is three times the cost of online UV disinfection. According to industry insiders, “the investment cost of heat treatment is much higher, and UV sterilization technology has proven to be very effective.â€
Attention at home and abroad to study non-thermal processing technology
In recent years, developed countries have generally attached great importance to the development of food non-thermal processing technology, and have invested a large amount of manpower, material resources and financial resources to carry out basic research and industrial application research related to science. At present, the United States, Canada, France, Germany and other countries have passed the food safety evaluation of non-thermal processing technology, and approved the technology for commercial applications in the fields of fruits and vegetables, meat products, aquatic products. Taking food ultra-high pressure technology (HPP) technology as an example, ultra-high pressure technology has been commercialized in the fields of fruits and vegetables, meat products, aquatic products, etc. Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Starbucks, Kraft Foods, Hormel Foods , Evomex, France, Perle, Canada, Maple Leaf, and Echigo, Japan, have applied the technology in production.
With the rapid growth of China's food industry, popular international non-thermal processing began to take root in the Chinese market to meet the growing demand for food consumption.
On August 10, 2010, the “Food Non-Heat Processing Technology and Equipment†project, which was led by Prof. Hu Xiaosong from the Food College of China Agricultural University, passed the acceptance inspection by the Ministry of Science and Technology. China has successfully developed a series of non-thermal processing technologies and equipments with independent intellectual property rights, such as direct-sealed, large-capacity and intelligent food ultra-high pressure processing equipment, which has broken the technical blockade that developed countries have maintained for nearly 20 years. The passive situation of equipment monopoly.
In the past 10 years of innovative practices in China's food technology and industry, food non-thermal processing technology and equipment is a high-level successful example. The developing food non-thermal processing technology and equipment industry is forward-looking and effectively fits the big proposition of health, environmental protection and naturalization of China's food industry: the basic research of the scientific and technological industry is closely linked with industrial development and equipment innovation; non-thermal processing The application research points to many difficulties and hot spots in the industrialization of traditional food in China, and it is solved.
At present, non-thermal processing technology and equipment have become a rare field in China's food science and technology industry and synchronized with the international advanced level, and also constitute an important advantage in the field of international food non-thermal processing technology. As a result, the Ministry of Science and Technology has clearly listed technical research such as “non-thermal processing†as the key area of ​​“13th Five-Year†technological innovation, indicating that this field will have greater value in the future of China's food industry and industrial transformation. The act.
China's non-thermal processing technology still needs to strengthen internal repair
However, industry insiders reminded that compared with developed countries, China's non-thermal processing technology research is not systematic, and repeated or similar research is mostly. In terms of basic research, the scope of research includes sterilization, blunt enzymes and the impact on quality, but the related mechanisms are lagging behind, and there is a certain gap in depth. In terms of product technology, research mainly focuses on changes in product quality before and after treatment and during storage. However, research on the safety, nutritional composition and functional changes of products is weak. At the same time, the relevant food regulations in China are based on thermal processing as the standard parameters, and are not suitable for non-thermal processing foods, which restricts the promotion of non-thermal processing technology.
It can be seen that although food non-thermal processing technology has broad development prospects and certain research breakthroughs in China, and is valued by the Ministry of Science and Technology, it still needs to clear multiple obstacles. In the next step, we must first study the non-thermal processing technology in a more comprehensive, systematic and in-depth manner. Secondly, we must improve the relevant food regulations and standards to provide guarantee for the industrialization of non-thermal processing technology.
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