Ohmic Heating: A potential technology for sweet whey processing

• Published in: Food research international 2018-04, Vol.106, p.771-779
• Main Authors: Costa, Naiara R., Cappato, Leandro P., Ferreira, Marcus Vinicius S., Pires, Roberto P.S., Moraes, Jeremias, Esmerino, Erick A., Silva, Ramon, Neto, Roberto P.C., Tavares, Maria Inês B., Freitas, Mônica Q., Silveira Júnior, Raimundo N., Rodrigues, Flávio N., Bisaggio, Rodrigo C., Cavalcanti, Rodrigo N., Raices, Renata S.L., Silva, Marcia C., Cruz, Adriano G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bioactive compounds; Ohmic Heating; Rheology parameters; Sensory profiling; Sweet whey; Volatile profiling
• ISSN: 0963-9969; 1873-7145
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2018.01.046

The use of Ohmic Heating (OH) for sweet whey processing was investigated in this study. Whey samples were subjected to both different OH parameters (2, 4, 5, 7 and 9 V·cm−1 at 60 Hz, up to 72–75 °C/15 s) and conventional processing (72–75 °C/15 s). Physicochemical analyses (pH), color measurements (L*, a*, b*), rheological properties (flow curves and particle size distribution), microstructure (optical microscopy), bioactive compounds (ACE and antioxidant capacity), microbiological characterization (mesophilic bacteria, total coliforms, and thermotolerant coliforms), water mobility (TD-magnetic resonance domain), and sensory evaluation (descriptive analysis) were carried out. The OH effects on sweet whey characteristics depended on the applied electric field intensity. Higher saturation, higher color variation (ΔE*), and higher luminosity (L*) were observed in low electric fields. For bioactive compounds, the increase of the electric field negatively affected the preservation of the antioxidant capacity and the ACE Inhibitory Activity of bioactive peptides. OH and conventional samples exhibited a pseudo-plastic behavior (n