Understanding the mechanisms of pulse microstructural transformation under thermal treatments

对富含蛋白质的植物性食品的需求日益增加，这就需要创新的加工和先进的质量控制方法，以改善新型食品的营养、功能和感官质量。豆类以其特殊的营养价值和富含蛋白质的食物/成分的理想来源而闻名。尽管先前获得了关于豆类加工的知识，但仍然需要获得关于热预处理过程如何影响单个豆类种子的质量以及如何使用这些知识为消费者配制新的高质量食品的大量信息（例如，挤压小吃、面包、面食、肉类替代品等）。在脉冲加工过程中应用的热预处理显著影响其物理、化学、机械和功能特性。在理解种子中这种复杂的化学结构转化的机制方面，缺乏定量信息和知识差距。因此，需要对结构变化如何发生有一个基本的理解，更重要的是，如何控制，操纵和优化这些变化。我假设，由于通过热预处理产生的微裂纹而导致的微结构变化和种子中孔隙率的发展是可调的，并且可能有利于各种加工应用（即，研磨、储存）。我的研究计划的长期目标是能够通过了解食品加工引起食品微观结构变化的机制，从而提高食品质量的实时质量控制。我的计划将采用应用食品工程，化学计量学和多尺度建模方法的多学科方法，在未来五年内实现以下短期目标：i）研究在两种热处理下脉冲中的微观结构转变的机制ii）解析种子形态和纹理参数之间的关系，其可针对特定的食品应用而量身定制，以及iii）开发用于基于脉冲的即食食品的实时质量控制的非破坏性化学绘图技术。拟议的研究将提供数学模型，描述食品微孔，水分和蛋白质绘图技术的发展。这将有利于加拿大豆类二次加工部门，并将释放豆类利用的全部潜力。这个假设驱动的研究计划将促进1个博士，2个硕士和5个本科生的培训。HQP将接触到一个包容性的，多学科的培训计划，这将提高他们在学术界和农业食品行业的未来职业发展。

Increasing demand for plant-based food that is rich in protein has created a need for innovative processing and advanced quality control methods that can improve the nutritional, functional, and sensory quality of novel foods. Pulses are known for their exceptional nutritional benefits and an ideal source for protein-rich food/ingredient. Despite previous knowledge gained about the processing of pulses, there is still a significant amount of information to be gained on how thermal pre-treatment processes affect the quality of individual pulse seeds and how this knowledge can be used to formulate new high-quality food products for the consumer (e.g., extruded snacks, bread, pasta, meat alternatives, etc.). Thermal pre-treatments applied during pulse processing significantly affects their physical, chemical, mechanical, and functional properties. There is a lack of quantitative information and a knowledge gap in understanding the mechanisms of such complex chemico-structural transformations in seeds. Therefore, there is a need for a fundamental understanding of how structural changes occur, and more importantly, how these changes can be controlled, manipulated, and optimized. I hypothesize that microstructural changes and the development of porosity in seeds due to micro-cracks made through heat pre-treatments are tunable and could be beneficial for various processing applications (i.e., milling, storage). The long-term objective of my research program is to be able to enhance the real-time quality control through understanding the mechanisms by which food processing induces microstructural changes in foods and thereby food quality. My program will adopt a multidisciplinary approach of applying food engineering, chemometrics, and multiscale modeling methodologies to achieve the following short-term objectives over the next five years: i) Investigate the mechanisms of microstructural transformations in pulses under two thermal treatments (infrared and superheated steam) using advanced three-dimensional quantitative modeling, ii) Resolve the relationship between seed morphological and textural parameters, which could be tailored to specific food application, and iii) Develop a non-destructive chemical mapping technique for real-time quality control of pulse-based ready-to-eat foods. The proposed studies will provide mathematical models describing the development of food micro-porosity, moisture and protein mapping techniques. This will benefit the Canadian pulse secondary processing sector and will unlock the full potential for pulse utilization. This hypothesis-driven research program will promote the training of 1 PhD, 2 MSc and 5 undergraduate students. The HQP will be exposed to an inclusive, multidisciplinary training program that will enhance their future career development in both academia and agri-food industry.