Application of ultrasounds for transformation processes of agroalimentary products

Overview & Synopsis

The use of ultrasound in the food industry presents numerous advantages, such as the increase of productivity, decrease of costs andenvironmental impact, resulting in the release of better products in the market. In the first part of this work, a brief introduction of ultrasoundtheory and its uses in the food industry are described, followed by the development of an aqueous ultrasound-assisted extraction of polyphenolsfrom apple pomace, which was optimized with great results both in the laboratory and pilot scales, showing the potential of ultrasound in therecovery of molecules of interest from by-products. A great potential was also evidenced in the development of ultrasound to assist foodpreparation. Although this promising technique has presented innumerous advantages, high lipid content food material seems to presentalterations when treated by ultrasound. Therefore, in the second part, a review on the effects of sonication in food products is presented, andthen a detailed study of edible oils submitted to ultrasounds followed up by physicochemical, sensorial and EPR analysis, allowing theproposition of a mechanism of the lipid degradation by ultrasound