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Development and evaluation of a vacuum impregnation system for enhancement of biochemical properties of food materials

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Abstract

Vacuum impregnation is a novel methodology for adding various substances to porous foods. This study aimed to develop a cost effective automate system for vacuum impregnation of food materials to enhance their nutritional, functional and sensory properties depending on the functionality of the impregnation solution. The developed vacuum impregnation system includes a vacuum chamber, vacuum pump and an automation setup for creating and maintaining vacuum conditions, feeding impregnated solutions to the samples and releasing vacuum. Fresh-cut spinach leaves were impregnated with ascorbic acid (AsA) and calcium chloride (Cacl2) (10% concentration) in the setup in order to test the effect of the process on some biochemical properties. Statistical analysis revealed significant effect of vacuum impregnation on the biochemical properties (total soluble solids, total phenolic content, flavonoid content and free radical scavenging activity) and color of spinach leaves during storage up to 4 days. Impregnation process showed significant increase in the total phenolic and flavonoid content of the spinach leaves. Increment up to 78% in antioxidant activity was seen for the uncoated impregnated leaves as compared to 59% activity in untreated samples. Thus, products with desired parameters can be produced with this process with minimal impact on their properties at a lower cost and in a shorter time period.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal, 462038, India

    Aseeya Wahid, Saroj Kumar Giri, Adinath Kate, Manoj Kumar Tripathi &  Lalita

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  1. Aseeya Wahid
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  2. Saroj Kumar Giri
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  3. Adinath Kate
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  4. Manoj Kumar Tripathi
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  5. Lalita
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Contributions

AW; conceived this research and designed experiments; wrote the paper and performed experiments and analysis, SKG; conceived, supervised this research, participated in the revisions of it, AK: participated in the design and interpretation of the data, MKT: participated in the design and interpretation of the data, L: participated in the interpretation of the data and revision of manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Aseeya Wahid.

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Wahid, A., Giri, S.K., Kate, A. et al. Development and evaluation of a vacuum impregnation system for enhancement of biochemical properties of food materials. J Food Sci Technol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-023-05913-x

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