STTR Phase I: Development of a Process to Extend the Shelf Life of Fruits and Vegetables at Ambient Temperature

该STTR第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是一种可持续的水果和蔬菜加工技术，利用一种新的低温技术，可以将预切水果和蔬菜的保质期延长数月，而无需使用防腐剂，化学品，冷冻或冷藏。 该技术将使：全天然，货架稳定的水果和蔬菜产品，保留最大的营养价值，质地和味道。 由于美国国家能源预算的很大一部分用于与食品相关的能源，以及发达国家由于冷藏不足而造成的高新鲜农产品损失，在没有冷藏或防腐剂的情况下实现保质期延长可以大幅降低能源成本，提高效率，并扩大全球营养的获取。该STTR第一阶段项目旨在开发，验证和建立初步研究，以评估新型食品加工技术的可行性和范围。传统的处理方法具有根本的缺点。 高温处理降低了营养质量，同时改变了最终产品的质地和味道。冷冻会对水果和蔬菜的复原特性产生负面影响，并且需要整个食品系统的高能耗来维持冷链。 HPP（高压处理）对它可以降解的酶有限制，高压处理的化学变化对质地和味道有负面影响。 这项研究计划将使用验证研究来评估新加工技术对各种水果和蔬菜的可行性和适用性。 成功的实验将证明，在低温下应用密相气体可以克服上述缺点，实现酶失活，破坏孢子，改善重构特性，降低能量需求，以及最小程度地降低味道、质地和营养品质的劣化。 这样的结果将推动后续的开发工作，以验证，在商业规模，新的工艺技术改善了传统方法的运营成本。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得支持的，通过评估使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this STTR Phase I project is a sustainable fruit and vegetable processing technology utilizing a new, low temperature technique that can extend the shelf life of pre-cut fruits and vegetables by months without using preservatives, chemicals, freezing, or refrigeration. The technology would enable: all-natural, shelf stable fruit and vegetable products that retain maximum nutritional value, texture, and taste. With significant percentages of the total US national energy budget used for food-related energy, and high fresh produce loss in the developed countries due to insufficient refrigeration, achieving shelf life extension without cold storage or preservatives could drastically reduce energy costs, increase efficiency, and expand access to nutrition globally. This STTR Phase I project proposes to develop, validate, and build-upon initial research to evaluate the feasibility and scope of a novel food processing technology. Traditional processing methodologies have fundamental drawbacks. High temperature treatments degrade nutritional quality while altering texture and taste of end-products. Freezing negatively affects the reconstitution properties of fruits and vegetables, and requires high energy consumption throughout the food system to maintain the cold chain. HPP (high pressure processing) has limitations on the enzymes it can inactivate, and chemical alterations from high pressure treatment negatively affects texture and taste. This research proposal will use validation studies to evaluate the feasibility and applicability of the novel processing technique to a variety of fruits and vegetables. Successful experimentation will prove that the application of dense phase gas at low temperatures can overcome the aforementioned drawbacks, achieving enzymatic inactivation, destruction of the spores, improved reconstitution properties, lower energy requirements, and minimal deterioration of taste, texture, and nutritional quality. Such a result would actuate follow-on development work to validate that, at commercial scale, the new process technology improves upon the operational costs of traditional methodologies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.