Agusan del Sur State College of Agriculture and Technology
College of Engineering and Information Studies
Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
Food Process Engineering
Introduction to Food Process Engineering
Engr. Jack O. Bertulfo, MSAE
Faculty, ABE 15
Food Process Engineering
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What is Food Engineering
Food Engineering is concerned with the design, construction, and operation
of industrial processes and plants in which intentional and controlled
changes in food materials are performed with due consideration to all
economic aspects considered.
Food engineering refers to the engineering aspects of food production
and processing. Food engineering includes, but is not limited to, the
application of agricultural engineering and chemical engineering principles
to food materials.
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Evolution of Food Engineering Research
❑ There have been significant
advancements in food engineering
research over the past 50 years.
❑ Although the research has been
conducted over a broad range of
applications, the unique focus of
research that has evolved is the
integration of reaction kinetics with
transport phenomenon to accomplish
process design.
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Distinct Research Areas in Food Engineering
1. Kinetic models have expanded the availability of kinetic parameters
and enhanced the investigation of appropriate models used for food products
2. Transport phenomenon research has improved our understanding of heat
and mass transfer in foods, with specific attention to the unique properties
of food products and the mathematic models needed to describe the
phenomenon in a food system.
3. Process design research integrates the kinetic models with
appropriate transport phenomenon models to allow prediction of a
parameter to quantify the quality of the food product.
Department
ABE of Agricultural
15 Food Process and Biosystems Engineering- Caraga State University
Engineering
Kinetic Models
The development of kinetic models for food systems is still evolving. A
typical model used to describe changes in a food component or attribute is
expressed as:
Where:
A= the concentration or intensity of
component k = the first-order rate constant.
These rate constants are evaluated and expressed as a function of
parameters such as temperature, water activity, pressure, pH, etc.
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Transport Phenomena
Transport Phenomena deals with the development of models to describe heat,
mass, and momentum transfer in food systems, expressed as follows
Where:
N = intensity of a process parameter
α = appropriate property of food structure.
Expressions of this type are used to predict distribution histories of the
preservation process parameter. Typical parameters include temperature,
moisture content, pressure, and other parameters used to accomplish reductions
in microbial populations.
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Transport Phenomena
x-axis ∂𝑁 𝑥 ∂2𝑁 𝑥 ∂2𝑁 𝑥 ∂2𝑁 𝑥
= α( 2 + 2 + 2 )
∂𝑡 ∂𝑥 ∂𝑦 ∂𝑧 Equations of change of
food properties using
y-axis ∂𝑁𝑦 ∂2𝑁 ∂2𝑁 ∂2𝑁 transport phenomena
= α( ∂𝑥2𝑦 + 2𝑦 + ∂𝑧2𝑦 ) analysis
∂𝑡 ∂𝑦
∂𝑁 𝑧 ∂2𝑁 𝑧 ∂2𝑁 𝑧 ∂2𝑁 𝑧
z-axis = α( 2 + 2 + 2 )
∂𝑡 ∂𝑥 ∂𝑦 ∂𝑧
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Process Design
❑ The focus of process design is on the product, with impact of the
process on reduction of the microbial population and/or the retention of a
sensitive product quality attribute.
❑ Process design provides the opportunity to consider multiple attributes
if the kinetic parameters and models are available.
❑ An even more important dimension of this approach is the potential for
process optimization, which is the identification of the process
parameters to achieve maximum retention of product quality attributes,
while ensuring the desired reduction in microbial population for safety or
shelf-life extension.
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Process Design
Integration of the appropriate kinetic model with transport
phenomenon expressions leads to process design. In general, the outcomes are
product quality attributes, predicted as follows:
Where:
A = the intensity or concentration of a quality attribute.
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Contributions of Food Engineering Research
1. Safe and Wholesome Foods
2. Affordable Food Supply
3. Convenient Food Products
4. Product Quality Improvements
5. Innovative Food Products
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Safe and Wholesome Foods
❑ Process design has had significant impact on the
safety and wholesomeness of food products.
❑ The development of food canning by Nicholas
Appert (1750–1841) took 14 years.
❑ Using the current process design approaches,
processes can be developed within hours.
❑ These approaches ensure microbiological safety
of products, along with the capability to
maximize the retention of product quality
attributes.
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Safe and Wholesome Foods
Knorr (2006) has
demonstrated that through
measuring and
understanding the kinetics
of Escherichia coli
population reductions at
high pressures, the
retention of product quality
attributes in sausage are
evident.
Process design for pathogen reduction of Escherichia coli in
sausage while retaining product quality attributes (Knorr
2006)
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Affordable Food Supply
❑ Food engineering research has contributed to keeping quantities of food
available at a modest cost to the consumer.
❑ These contributions have been accomplished through overall
improvements in the efficiency of food manufacturing.
❑ These improvements have occurred through a focus on specific processes, as
well as an analysis of processing operations.
❑ Many of the improvements in efficiency have occurred through
increased capacity of individual pieces of equipment and throughput of
processing lines.
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Affordable Food Supply
❑ Another contributor to a low-cost food supply has been the
development of processes that allow foods to be transported for long
distances without noticeable reductions in product quality attributes.
❑ An example of process improvements for shelf-stable foods has been
aseptic processing and packaging.
❑ This continuous process has been demonstrated as an excellent
alternative to the more traditional batch retort process.
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Affordable Food Supply
❑ Aseptic packaging is the process by which
microorganisms are prevented from entering a
package during and after packaging.
❑ During aseptic processing, a sterilized package
is filled with a commercially sterile food
product and sealed within the confines of a
hygienic environment.
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Affordable Food Supply
The aseptic processing and packaging concept in an aseptic environment
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Convenient Food Products
❑ Process design has contributed to the development of convenient foods
in a significant way.
❑ Examples include products with reduced preparation times, products
with improved quality attributes, products with extended shelf-life, and a
variety of shelf-stable products
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Convenient Food Products
❑ Freeze-dried foods are examples of
products convenient for consumers.
❑ The freeze-drying process produces
high-quality dry foods by removing
moisture from the product through
sublimation at low temperature and
preserving the product’s quality
attributes.
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Product Quality Improvements
❑ Process design has contributed to food quality improvements in many ways.
❑ These improvements have occurred as a result of new and unique
ingredients manufactured using new processes created through process
design.
❑ Product flavors are being enhanced with new technologies to preserve
volatile flavors, with specific attention to encapsulation processes.
❑ Based on new physical properties knowledge, process design has created
an array of new and improved product textures.
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Product Quality Improvements
❑ The concept of water activity
has provided a unique basis
for product and process
development.
❑ Many new relationships
between reaction rates in
foods and water activity have
guided the development of
foods with extended shelf-life
and unique quality attributes.
The food stability map (Figure redone by T.P. Labuza
based on Labuza et al. 1970)
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Innovative Food Products
❑ The development of many innovative new products has resulted from
process design.
❑ As new process technologies are identified and applied to food
manufacturing the opportunities for new and different products evolve.
❑ Similar opportunities occur as new packaging and packaging systems
are developed.
❑ In many situations, these new process technologies are important to
the enhancement of product quality.
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Innovative Food Products
❑ An excellent example of a process
technology with significant impact on food
product development is extrusion.
❑ Extrusion is a process developed in the
polymer industry, but it has been adapted
to a range of applications in the food
industry.
❑ The process combines the parameters of
pressure, temperature, and time to produce
products with unique characteristics and
properties.
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
Innovative Food Products
The extrusion process on a state diagram (Bruin and Jongen 2001)
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
The Future of Food Engineering
❑ One of the currently evolving areas of research is nanoscale science and the
translation of outcomes into applications in food systems.
❑ The shelf-life of foods is likely to be increased through a combination of nano-
sensors used to detect the onset of product deterioration, followed immediately
by intervention to prevent this deterioration.
❑ Through the study and understanding of food properties at the nanoscale, the
texture of food products can be improved, and new product textures are likely
to evolve. Many of these improvements are likely to be the result of the creation
of nano-structured particles and films.
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
The Future of Food Engineering
❑ Food engineering will contribute to the goals of improved health and
wellness of consumers through development of functional foods.
❑ The application of engineering concepts and principles to the
metabolism of food will provide insights on the product and process
development cycle.
❑ The potential for incorporating bioactive compounds into food products
in a manner that ensures delivery of the compound to the appropriate
site within the body during metabolism of the food is achievable
through food engineering research.
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
The Future of Food Engineering
❑ An evolving challenge to food manufacturing and distribution is the
constraint of sustainability.
❑ Food engineering should contribute to sustainability in many ways.
❑ The basic concepts of material and energy balances will become standard
tools in evaluation of all scales of operation from the point of raw
material production to delivery of the product to the consumer and
beyond.
ABE 15 Food Process Engineering
References
Bruin S, Jongen RG (2001) Food process engineering: the past 25 years and challenges ahead. The Food
Engineering Division Lecture. Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting, New Orleans,
LA
Knorr D (2006) Processing concepts for non-thermal modification of foods. 13th World Food Congress of
Food Science & Technology. Nantes, France. Sept. 17–21
Labuza TP, Tannenbaum SR, Karel M (1970) Water content and stability of low moisture and
intermediate moisture foods. Food Technol 24:543–550
Springer. (2011). Food Engineering Interfaces. (J. M. Aguilera, Ed.) New York: Springer. doi:DOI
10.1007/978-1- 4419-7475-4
