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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
“Rocha do Oeste” pear is a Portuguese Protected Designation of Origin variety and
one of the country’s most relevant fruits for its nutritional value, production area, and
exportation amounts. The recent integration of a pilot-scale juice production line brought
to SUMOL+COMPAL company the need to characterize the new resulting fractions and
value the new by-products. The objective of this work was to value the juice clarification
by-products, producing a clean label and fiber-rich snack, in a circular economy rationale,
where the secondary products are upcycled back into the food value chain, by creating
another food product that includes those by-products. For the above to be possible,
the laboratory conditions to produce pear fractions were optimized. After optimizing the
puree centrifugation, using response surface methodology (RSM), and optimizing the
turbid juice crossflow filtration, the different fractions were characterized in rheological,
nutritional, and physical aspects. Comparison to the pulps revealed an increase in the
viscosity of the pomace; an enriching effect on the fructose, glucose, and dietary fiber
levels in the pomace, and maintenance of the vitamin C levels after centrifugation; and
with no effect on the contents of total phenols during the filtration step. A thick pear
snack was developed, incorporating retained fraction, inulin, and Euglena gracilis in the
pomace, and optimized regarding its firmness and dietary fiber content. The snack
characterization revealed an interesting total phenols content (which was maintained
from the raw materials). Compared to the snack without microalgae and a commercial
fruit snack, the pear snack with E. gracilis was well-accepted by the sensory panel,
mainly in texture and appearance, and can be further improved in aroma and flavor.
The snack without microalgae was the favorite among the three samples, in most
sensory parameters, and never got the answer “I’m sure I wouldn’t buy it.” Therefore,
an innovative, clean label and plant-based snack was developed, in a circular economy
rationale, which was relatively well-appreciated by the panel. This snack is rich in dietary
fiber, having the possibility of presenting various nutritional claims, and the potential for
easy sensory optimization
Description
Original Research
Keywords
Rocha pear clean label food product development Euglena gracilis thick snack pear pomace by-products valorization
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Lomba-Viana X, Raymundo A, Prista C, Alegria MJ and Sousa I (2022) Clean Label “Rocha” Pear (Pyrus communis L.) Snack Containing Juice By-Products and Euglena gracilis Microalgae. Front. Nutr. 9:825999
Publisher
Frontiers