It is recognized that a major threat to human health in Europe is that of chronic diseases and obesity with great negative impact on life quality. The quality and health beneficial effects of food consumed are an important key to tackle these challenges either by developing and offering new and healthier food raw material or through development of healthy food ingredients to be included in meals on a daily basis. Thus, consumer´s growing interest to obtain products of greater organoleptic and nutritional quality with healthy properties has led to the food industry and academics to develop new strategies in product development and food processing.

Conventional heat treatments have been shown as a perfect tool to achieve adequate food security, however as well-known may have detrimental effect on quality and nutritional value.

Consumers acceptance is a major issue and bioactive compounds derived from or naturally present in foods provides a solution that meets the general consumer’s demand for natural components. For this reason, every day is driving the development and research in the new non-thermal technologies such as high hydrostatic pressure, pulsed electric fields, etc. that can achieve microbial inactivation, better health properties (natural nutrient retention, improving bioavailability, etc.), preserving the organoleptic properties, and preventing the formation of potentially harmful products. Moreover, these technologies can be used for designing new products with different textures and with improved functional properties.

Some of these technologies are a fact (eg. HP and PEF) with several units commercialized around the World. However, high costs are still a challenge for the new processing technologies, wherefore the industrial application and implementation of these technologies is still behind. Providing more information to both academics and industry is the key to increase the awareness of the technologies in order to investigate the possibilities for the implementation of these processing technologies for the future high-quality foods. The EU-project “Mechanistic modelling of the formation of bioactive compounds in HP-processed seedlings of Brussels sprouts for effective solution to preserve healthy compounds in vegetables” is currently running aiming at providing new insights into the mechanism behind the HP impact on vegetable and plant matrices that are necessary for the development of viable future HP industrial application. The chapter 7 “Implementation of emerging technologies” (by F.J. Barba, V. Orlien, M.J. Mota, R.P. Lopes, S.A. Pereira, J.A. Saraiva In Innovation Strategies in the Food Industry) provides insight into the well-established and most promising technologies (HP, PEF, OH, MW, US) of industrial application and commercialization. Moreover, specific food cases (orange juice, milk, and oysters) regarding implementation of HP and PEF in an industrial setting are surveyed. In the future, the costs are expected to reduce with further technological advances and thereby increase the implementation in the food industry.

To this line, the Chapter 14 “Cost and safety issues of emerging technologies against conventional techniques” (by C.M. Galanakis, F.J. Barba, and K.N. Prasad In Food Waste Recovery: Processing Technologies and Industrial Techniques) provides an attempt to clarify cost and safety issues of emerging, non-thermal technologies applied in food processing. More insights about the effect of these techniques in food components can be found in the forthcoming (January 2017) book entitled “Nutraceutical and Functional Food Components: Effects of Innovative Processing Techniques” (see below).

Nutraceutical and Functional Food Components: Effects of Innovative Processing Techniques presents the latest information on the chemistry, biochemistry, toxicology, health effects, and nutrition characteristics of food components and the recent trends and practices that the food industry (e.g. the implementation of non-thermal technologies, nanoencapsulation, new extraction techniques, and new sources, like by-products, etc.) has adopted. This book fills the gap in knowledge by denoting the impact of recent food industry advances in different parameters of food components (e.g. nutritional value, physical and chemical properties, bioavailability and bioaccessibility characteristics) and final products (e.g. applications, shelf-life, sensory characteristics).

Key Features

• Provides a holistic view of the interactions between novel processing techniques and food components
• Explains how innovative techniques, such as non-thermal, nano-encapsulation, waste recovery, and novel extraction and processing methods impact the nutritional value of ingredients commonly used in functional food and nutraceutical products
• Covers food applications, shelf-life, and sensory characteristics

Innovation Strategies in the Food Industry: Tools for Implementation is an indispensable resource for the food industry to introduce innovations in the market, stand out from the competition and satisfy consumer demands. This reference reports the most trend advances of the food science, while providing insights and ideas to overcome limitations for their actual implementation in the industry. Innovation Strategies in the Food Industry: Tools for Implementation fills the gap between strategy developers and technical R&D associates by interpreting the technological adequacy of innovative techniques with the reaction of related consumers. It deals with the interaction of academia and industry, describing innovation and long term R&D strategies to overcome bottlenecks during know-how transfer between these two sectors.

Key Features

• Reports the development of cooperative networks for the commercialization of new food products
• Includes the concept of open innovation, denoting the particular issues that SMEs are facing during their innovation efforts and suggest respective innovation policies in the agrifood sector
• Discusses the challenges of introducing innovations in traditional food products
• Describes the sustainability problems and restrictions (safety and energy issues) of innovations in food processing and emerging technologies
• Exploits the cutting-edge innovation cases of  food science and their applications in the food industry
• Addresses the observed problems and provides solutions to meet market and consumers’ needs

Food Waste Recovery: Processing Technologies and Industrial Techniques acts as a guide to recover valuable components of food by-products and recycle them inside the food chain, in an economic and sustainable way. The book investigates all the relevant recovery issues and compares different techniques to help you advance your research and develop new applications. Strong coverage of the different technologies is included, while keeping a balance between the characteristics of current conventional and emerging technologies. This is an essential reference for research outcomes. A video presentation of the book can be viewed here.

Key features

• Presents a holistic methodology (the so-called “5-Stages Universal Recovery Process”) and a general approach (the so-called “Universal Recovery Strategy”) to ensure optimized management of the available technologies and recapture of different high added-value compounds from any waste source
• Includes characteristics, safety and cost issues of conventional and emerging technologies, the benefits of their application in industry, and commercialized applications of real market products
• Demonstrates all aspects of the recovery process such as preservation of the substrate, yield optimization, preservation of functionality of the target compounds during processing, and more

Dr. Francisco J. Barba is Ass. Professor in Nutrition, Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Valencia, Spain. He holds an European Ph.D in Pharmacy (with distinction) at University of Valencia and he hold degrees in Pharmacy and in Food Science and Technology as well as MSc in Dietetics and Dietoterapics and Master in Advanced Studies. Nowadays, he is enjoying a Marie Curie IEF fellowship in the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Prior to his current appointment, he was also engaged as a postdoctoral researcher in the Université de Technologie de Compiègne (UTC), to explore different non-conventional technologies for extracting bioactive compounds from plant food materials and by products with a postdoctoral fellowship from Valencian Government. His research focus is on non-conventional processing for preservation and/or extraction of bioactive compounds from liquid and solid food products. He has more than 60 published or accepted peer reviewed research or reviews articles in international journals of which first author (20) or co-author (40) in high impact factor journals in the Food Science and Technology area (Journal Citation Reports, ISI Web of Knowledge), more than 10 book chapters, 70 presentations in conferences (most of them as proceedings and oral communications). Nowadays, Dr. Barba is serving as Editorial Board Member of the prestigious Journal “Food Research International” as well as “Frontiers in Nutrition”, “International Journal of Clinical Nutrition & Dietetics” and “International Journals of Nutritional Health and Food Engineering”.

Vibeke Orlien (co-authoring chapter 7) has an MSc in mathematics and chemistry and a PhD degree in food chemistry. She is an Associate Professor in food chemistry in the section of Food Design and Consumer Behaviour, Department of Food Science, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen. Her research areas are thermodynamics in food chemistry with emphasis on: i) high pressure methods in food processing and the effects on food components and their properties, including oxidative stability and protein modification in relation to functionality, ii) characterization of phase transitions in foods with special importance on glass transition in relation to temperature and moisture, and encapsulation of food ingredients, iii) microscopic molecular mobility and molecular diffusion in dried and frozen foods with special importance on lipid oxidation.  She has been leader of several national and international projects about high pressure processing and is manager of the high-pressure facilities at the department. She has been supervisor of several BSc theses, MSc theses, PhD students and supervisor for several national and visiting postdoctoral projects including one Marie Curie FP7 IEF postdoc. She has published more than 44 papers in peer-reviewed international journals, together with book chapters and trade journals articles.

Dr. Galanakis is a dynamic and interdisciplinary scientist with a fast-expanding body of work that balances between food and environment, industry and academia. His research targets mainly the separation and recovery of functional macro- and micro-molecules from different food by-products, as well as their implementation as additives in food and other products. He is the research & innovation director of Galanakis Laboratories (Chania, Greece) and the coordinator of Food Waste Recovery Group (SIG5) of ISEKI Food Association (Vienna, Austria). He serves as an editorial board member and subject editor of Food and Bioproducts Processing and Food Research International, and has published dozens research articles, reviews, monographs and conference proceedings. He has edited 4 books with Academic Press, including Food Waste Recovery, Innovation Strategies in the Food Industry, Nutraceutical and Functional Food Components and Olive Mill Waste.

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