USE OF HIGH PRESSURE TO DEVELOP A NON-THERMAL PASTEURIZED HONEY WITH UNIQUE FUNCTIONAL AND QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS

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Conventional and emergent technologies for honey processing: A perspective on microbiological safety, bioactivity, and quality

Publication . Scepankova, Hana; Pinto, Carlos A.; Paula, Vanessa B.; Estevinho, Leticia M.; Saraiva, Jorge A.

Honey is a natural food of worldwide economic importance. Over the last decades, its potential for food, medical, cosmetical, and biotechnological applications has been widely explored. One of the major safety issues regarding such applications is its susceptibility to being contaminated with bacterial and fungi spores, including pathogenic ones, which may impose a hurdle to its consumption in a raw state. Another factor that makes this product particularly challenging relies on its high sugar content, which will lead to the formation of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) when heated (due to Maillard reactions). Moreover, honey’s bioactivity is known to be affected when it goes through thermal processing due to its unstable and thermolabile components. Therefore, proper food processing methodologies are of utmost importance not only to ensure honey safety but also to provide a high-quality product with low content of HMF and preserved biological properties. As so, emerging food processing technologies have been employed to improve the safety and quality of raw honey, allowing, for example, to reduce/avoid the exposure time to high processing temperatures, with consequent impact on the formation of HMF. This review aims to gather the literature available regarding the use of conventional and emergent food processing technologies (both thermal and nonthermal food processing technologies) for honey decontamination, preservation/enhancement of honey biological activity, as well as the sensorial attributes.

2021Journal article

Open access

The High Pressure Preservation of Honey: A Comparative Study on Quality Changes during Storage

Publication . Scepankova, Hana; Majtan, Juraj; Estevinho, Leticia M.; Saraiva, Jorge A.

In commercially available honey, the application of a heat treatment to prevent spoilage can potentially compromise its beneficial properties and quality, and these effects worsen with extended storage. The high-pressure processing (HPP) of honey is being explored, but its long-term impact on honey quality has not been characterised yet. This study evaluated the effects of HPP and thermal processing on the microbial load, physicochemical quality (i.e., hydroxymethylfurfural content and diastase activity), and antioxidant capacity of honey after treatment and following extended storage (6, 12, and 24 months) at 20 degree celsius. Pasteurization (78 degree celsius/6 min) effectively eliminated the microorganisms in honey but compromised its physicochemical quality and antioxidant activity. HPP initially showed sublethal inactivation, but storage accelerated the decrease in yeasts/moulds and aerobic mesophiles in honey (being <1 log CFU/g after 24 months of storage) compared to unprocessed honey and honey thermally treated under mild conditions (55 degree celsius/15 min). The physicochemical characteristics of the quality of HPP-treated honey and raw unprocessed honey did change after long-term storage (24 months) but remained within regulatory standards. In conclusion, HPP emerged as a more suitable and safe preservation method for Apis mellifera honey, with a minimal risk of a loss of antioxidant activity compared to traditional industrial honey pasteurization.

2024Journal article

Open access

Enhancement of Bioactivity of Natural Extracts by Non-Thermal High Hydrostatic Pressure Extraction

Publication . Scepankova, Hana; Martins, Margarida; Estevinho, Leticia M.; Delgadillo, Ivonne; Saraiva, Jorge A.

Natural extracts, likethose obtained from medicinal herbs, dietary plantsand fruitsare being recognized as important sources of bioactive compounds with several functionalities including antioxidant, anticancer, and antimicrobial activities. Plant extracts rich in phenolic antioxidants are currently being successfully used for several pharmaceutical applications and in the development of new foods(i.e.,functional foods),in order to enhance the bioactivity of the products and to replace synthetic antioxidants.The extraction method applied in the recovery of the bioactive compounds from natural materials is a key factor to enhance the bioactivity of the extracts. However, most of the extraction techniques have to employ heat, which can easily lead to heat sensitive compounds losing their biological activity, due to changes caused by temperature. Presently, high hydrostatic pressure (HHP)is being increasingly explored as a cold extraction method of bioactive compounds from natural sources.This non-thermal high hydrostatic pressure extraction (HHPE) technique allows one to reduce the extraction time and increase the extraction of natural beneficial ingredients, in terms of nutritional value and biological activities and thus enhance the bioactivity of the extracts.This review provides an updated and comprehensive overview on the extraction efficiency of HHPE for the production of natural extracts with enhanced bioactivity,based on the extraction yield,total content and individual composition of bioactive compounds, extraction selectivity, and biological activities of the different plant extracts, so far studied by extraction with this technique.

2018Journal article

Open access