High Pressure Processing

HPP is essentially a non-thermal processing in which the food products are subjected to
high pressure (100 to 600 MPa). High pressure equipments include high pressure generating
piston and pressure vessels. In the inlet end, oil of relatively low pressure and smaller area on
displacement, enables to generate high pressure (to the tune of 700 MPa) on the outlet end,
which then is applied to process the food product. HPP have advantage over the thermal
processing, being capable to affect the product instantaneously and uniformly, without affected
by the shape and size of the product (Torres & Velazquez, 2005). Since this process involves
minimal heating, the organoleptic and nutritional properties are similar to unprocessed foods,
with better stability (Butz et al., 2003) and has been accepted by consumers for its naturalness
and improved taste (Nielsen et al., 2009). In addition to cause enzymatic inactivation (Montero et
al., 2001; Phunchaisri & Apichartsrangkoon, 2005; Niu et al., 2009; Terefe et al., 2010),
microbial inactivation (Buzrul et al., 2008; Castro et al., 2008; Shao & Ramaswamy, 2008; Jofre
et al., 2009) and retention of antioxidative capacity (Garca et al., 2001; Butz et al., 2002), this
process also brings about textural changes in the food (Butz et al., 2002, De Roeck et al., 2010),
which could be of importance considering mass transfer phenomena in drying and dehydration
process. Since there are structural changes associated with HPP, as it exerts non-hydrostatic
stress on the cellwall, modifying it (Hartmann et al., 2006); thermal conductivity increases,
confirming the uniform structural disintegration during the processing (Zhu et al., 2008). Ultrahigh pressure can affect the hydrophobic and ionic bonds within or between macromolecules, but
does not influence other stronger bonds, like hydrogen bonds in hemicellulose, cellulose and
lignin (Yang et al., 2009). Some reports also claim protein (Tedford et al.,1998) and carbohydrate
structural modification, thus loss of allerginity and change in functional properties in case of
cereals and legumes (Estrada-Giron et al., 2005). The textural properties of plant origin depend
on the enzymatic and non-enzymatic reactions; choosing proper temperature and pressure
combination, some of the enzymes can be activated and some can be inactivated to aid in
processing, depending on the food product and the nature of enzymes (Oeya et al., 2008).
Some of the advantages of HPP can be summarized as follows (i) better quality
retention compared to thermal process, (ii) in some case cheaper alternative to thermal
processing, (iii) uniform and homogenous effect on the food regardless of its shape and size, (iv)
suitable combination with temperature, can activate or inactivate enzymes, as per the
requirement (v) cold pasteurization can be achieved for heat sensitive material, but it is more
effective with high temperature combination, (vi) requisite pressure can be achieved with
minimum time, thus lowering the processing time, (vii) the structural changes in proteins,
carbohydrates can be effectively used as different functional food and dehydration system using
proper temperature and pressure limit, (viii) change in cellwall and pectin structure with
chemical impregnation can retain better firmness of the product, (ix) structural modification in
the cellwall can aid in osmotic dehydration and drying process (Butz et al., 2002; Ibarz et al.,
2004; Wennberg & Nyman, 2004).
Some research work indicated the benefits of HP treatment prior to or during osmotic
dehydration of pineapple (Rastogi & Niranjan, 1998), potato (Rastogi et al., 2000), mango (Tedjo
et al., 2002) and found the mass transfer rate to be higher compared to the conventional
blanching process for red paprika (Ade-Omowaye et al., 2001b), high drying rate due to cell
permeabilization for Amasya and red delicious apples, green beans and carrots (Yucel et al.,
2010). Effect of HPP on the structural modification of various food products are compiled in
table 4.