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[EN] The impact of individual and combined pulsed electric field (PEF) and high power ultrasound (HPU) on the inactivation of different microorganisms in emulsions was investigated. The highest inactivation level using PEF was 2.6, 1.2 and 0.1 log-cycles for Escherichia coli, Aspergillus niger and Bacillus pumilus, respectively, achieved at the highest energy level and temperature (152.3-176.3 kJ/kg and 25 degrees C). HPU led to the highest reduction (5.4, 4.3 and 0.3 log-cycles for E. coli, A. niger and B. pumilus, respectively) after the longest treatment time studied (3 min). PEF (152.3-176.3 kJ/kg) followed by HPU (3 min) was found to be the most effective sequence, leading to synergistic effects (6.6 and 1.0 log-cycles for A. niger and B. pumilus, respectively), compared to the individual treatments. PEF-HPU is a promising hurdle technology with which to inactivate vegetative bacteria or fungal spores in emulsions. However, limited inactivation was achieved for bacterial spores., The authors acknowledge the financial support from Fresenius Kabi

[EN] In the dry-cured ham industry, an accurate control of the dry-salting process is especially complex because of the great heterogeneity of the meat pieces and the effect of different operational variables. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using an ultrasound system and methodology, adapted to the industry requirements, for the online monitoring of the ham dry-salting process. For that purpose, hams were dry salted for different times (4, 10, 11, 14, 16 and 30 days) at 2 degrees C. The cushion zone of the ham was placed over the transducers during salting and ultrasonic signals were taken automatically (5 min interval by using pulse-echo mode. Several methods of signal analysis were considered in order to assess the time of flight (TOF). TOF estimations by means of the energy threshold and cross-correlation methods (between the initial ultrasonic signal and the remaining signals measured during salting and between consecutive signals 5 min apart without interpolation) were affected by the low signal-to-noise ratio and the pulse distortion and were discarded for the online monitoring of ham salting. Otherwise, the cross-correlation method between consecutive signals (5 min apart) with interpolation n = 3 (CCM-CS n = 3), between non-consecutive signals (1 h apart) (CCM-NCS) and the phase spectrum method (PSM), provided close estimations of the variation of the TOF, which correlated well with the ham salt gain (R-2 = 0.83 for CCM-CS n = 3, 0.93 for CCM-NCS and 0.90 for PSM). Consequently, the use of ultrasonic pulse-echo TOF measurements could be considered as a simple, non-invasive, non-destructive and reliable technique for the industrial monitoring of the ham dry-salting process., This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO), Institute Nacional de Investigacion y Tecnologia Agraria y Alimentaria and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF 2014-2020) (project RTA 2013-00030-C03-02), and by the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia through the FPI grant awarded to Marta de Prados (SP-1.2011-S1-2757).

[EN] For the first time, the relationship between equilibrium moisture content and water activity is reported for the desorption process in pork liver. For that purpose, a standardized conductivity hygrometer was used at four different temperatures (0, 10, 30 and 50 degrees C) over a wide range of water activity (0.999-0.103). Five models frequently found in the literature (GAB, Oswin, Henderson, Hasley and Ratti) were considered for the purposes of describing the experimental desorption. The GAB model emerged as the best option (explained variance 96.6%) for the physical and mathematical description of the water desorption isotherms in pork liver. The computed isosteric heat, entropy and Gibbs energy illustrated the high water-sorbent affinity, because of a considerable availability of strong sorption sites at low moisture contents. The reported experimental desorption isotherms, and modeling results, are essentials for the optimal design of the drying process of pork liver, which is a necessary step for the further research addressing the extraction of the protein fraction from the dried product. Extraction and isolation of the protein fraction from pork liver could be considered a reasonable strategy considering the demand of protein materials and the high-environmental impact of the meat industry., The authors acknowledge the financial support from the "Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO)" and "Instituto Nacional de Investigacion y Tecnologia Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA)" in Spain (Project RTA 2017-00024-C04-03). Eduardo A. Sanchez-Torres acknowledges the FPU PhD contract (FPU18/01439) granted by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.

[EN] For the first time, this study addresses the intensification of supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) treatments using high-power ultrasound (HPU) for the inactivation of fungal (Aspergillus niger) and bacterial (Clostridium butyricum) spores in oil-in-water emulsions. The inactivation kinetics were analyzed at different pressures (100, 350 and 550 bar) and temperatures (50, 60, 70, 80, 85 °C), depending on the microorganism, and compared to the conventional thermal treatment. The inactivation kinetics were satisfactorily described using the Weibull model. Experimental results showed that SC-CO2 enhanced the inactivation level of both spores when compared to thermal treatments. Bacterial spores (C.butyricum) were found to be more resistant to SC-CO2 + HPU, than fungal (A.niger) ones, as also observed in the thermal and SC-CO2 treatments. The application of HPU intensified the SC-CO2 inactivation of C.butyricum spores, e.g. shortening the total inactivation time from 10 to 3 min at 85 °C. However, HPU did not affect the SC-CO2 inactivation of A.niger spores. The study into the effect of a combined SC-CO2 + HPU treatment has to be necessarily extended to other fungal and bacterial spores, and future studies should elucidate the impact of HPU application on the emulsion's stability, The authors acknowledge the financial support from Fresenius Kabi Deutschland GmbH, Germany

[EN] This study tests the feasibility of air-coupled ultrasound for the characterization of the textural properties of pork burger patties. The samples were prepared by mixing lard at different percentages (0, 20, 40, 60 and 80%) with a commercial burger meat mixture. Through-transmission airborne ultrasound measurements (250 kHz) were carried out at 5 and 20 degrees C. Ultrasonic velocity at 5 degrees C increased exponentially with fat content (r = 0.99), varying from 1587 to 1668 m/s, whereas it remained fairly constant at 20 degrees C (1644 to 1624 m/s). Ultrasonic attenuation decreased with fat content following an exponential pattern (r = 0.83 at 5 degrees C; r = 0.93 at 20 degrees C) and ranged from 62.6 to 44.8 Np/m at 5 degrees C, and from 76.7 to 42.2 Np/m at 20 degrees C. Noticeable correlations were found between hardness and ultrasonic velocity (r = 0.89 at 5 degrees C), and between Total Relaxation Capacity and ultrasonic attenuation (r = 0.89 at 5 degrees C; r = 0.99 at 20 degrees C). Additionally, airborne ultrasound allowed an accurate (mean relative difference 2.3%) prediction of burger thickness., This work was supported by the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion in Spain (Project RTC-2017-6314-2 & RTA 2017-00024-C04-03). M.D. Farinas is grateful for her post-doctoral "Juan de la Cierva" fellowship (FJCI-2017-34,759) through the program funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.

[EN] The enzyme Ferrochelatase (FeCH), which is naturally present in pork liver, catalyses the formation of Zincprotoporphyrin (ZnPP), a natural pigment responsible for the typical color of dry-cured Italian Parma ham. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using high power ultrasound in continuous and pulsed modes to intensify the extraction of the enzyme FeCH from pork liver. US application during FeCH extraction led to an improved enzymatic activity and further increase in the formation of ZnPP. The optimal condition tested was that of 1 min in continuous US application, in which time the enzymatic activity increased by 33.3 % compared to conventional extraction (30 min). Pulsed US application required 5 min treatments to observe a significant intensification effect. Therefore, ultrasound is a potentially feasible technique as it increases the catalytic activity of FeCH and saves time compared to the conventional extraction method, The authors acknowledge the financial support from the "Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) and Instituto Nacional de Investigacion y Tecnologia Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA)" in Spain (Project RTA2017-00024-C04-03). The authors acknowledge the contribution of the undergraduate student Jose V. Pedrero-Gonzalez to the experimental work.

[EN] The aim of this study was to analyze the application of supercritical carbon dioxide combined with high-power ultrasound (SC-CO2 + HPU) and the use of a saline solution (SS; 0.85% NaCl) on the microbial inactivation and the quality of dry-cured ham. The effect of temperature, pressure and treatment time was studied using RSM. Physicochemical analyses were carried out after the treatments and during refrigerated storage (30 days / 4 ?C). The most significant inactivation of Escherichia coli (3.62 ? 0.20-log CFU/g) was obtained using the SC-CO2 + HPU + SS (25 MPa, 46-?C and 10-min), with temperature being the most important process variable. Fat content showed a significant (p 0.05) reduction (46%) after the SC-CO2 + HPU treatment. The breakage of the muscle fibers, the disorganization in the myofibrils, as well as the enlargement of the interfibrillar spaces led to the ham softening (avg 26.5%). No significant (p 0.05) changes in color, texture or pH were found during storage. Thus, ultrasonic-assisted SC-CO2 could be used, in combination or not with SS, to improve the shelf of dry-cured ham. Industrial relevance: Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) inactivation technology has been shown to be highly efficient at reducing different bacteria in liquid media with minimum effect on food quality. This technology is barely applied to solid products and its use is limited by the long processing times and reduced inactivation capacity. The application of high-power ultrasound (HPU) leads to a shorter process time. This technology is useful for the inactivation of ham microbiota and inoculated E.coli. A liquid medium surrounding the treated solid can enhance microbial inactivation for the purposes of improving the effect of ultrasound cavitation, while only minimally affecting the quality of the samples (color, texture, fat and moisture contents)., The authors acknowledge the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT) of Mexico, for the scholarships awarded to R.I. Castillo-Zamudio and I. Paniagua-Martinez.

[EN] In the present study, the use of the air-coupled ultrasonic technique has been analysed as a new tool for the contactless assessment of the avocado post-harvest textural modifications during ripening. Thus, ultrasonic parameters, such as maximum wave amplitude and ultrasound velocity, and textural ones, such as hardness, elastic modulus and relaxation capacity, were measured on avocado slices. During ripening, avocado reduced its elastic modulus (from 2.29 +/- 0.75 to 0.16 +/- 0.08 MPa), became softer and became more viscoelastic, which was well described from zero and first-order kinetic models. These changes increased ultrasound attenuation, decreasing the maximum amplitude of the ultrasonic signal (from 336.6 to 55.4 V/m), while the ultrasonic velocity remained constant, between 320.1 +/- 6.9 and 316.4 +/- 82.6 m/s. Thereby, the maximum ultrasonic amplitude, which adequately correlated with textural parameters (r(avg) = 0.85), could be used to assess the post-harvest ripening on avocado slices., The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) and Agencia Estatal de InvestigaciOn in Spain (Project RTC-2017-6314-2) and the Generalitat Valenciana. M.D. Farifias is grateful to the European Social Fund (ESF 2014-2020) and Generalitat Valenciana for her post-doctoral fellowship (APOSTD/2018/203). The author E.A. Sanchez-Torres acknowledges the support of the undergraduate student Sara Serrano Garcia on the experimental work.

[EN] In recent years, modelling techniques have become more frequently adopted in the field of food processing, especially for cereal-based products, which are among the most consumed foods in the world. Predictive models and simulations make it possible to explore new approaches and optimize proceedings, potentially helping companies reduce costs and limit carbon emissions. Nevertheless, as the different phases of the food processing chain are highly specialized, advances in modelling are often unknown outside of a single domain, and models rarely take into account more than one step. This paper introduces the first high-level overview of modelling techniques employed in different parts of the cereal supply chain, from farming to storage, from drying to milling, from processing to consumption. This review, issued from a networking project including researchers from over 30 different countries, aims at presenting the current state of the art in each domain, showing common trends and synergies, to finally suggest promising future venues for research., The authors would like to acknowledge networking and article processing charge support by COST Action CA15118 (Mathematical and Computer Science Methods for Food Science and Industry).

Due to the interest in identifying cost-effective techniques that can guarantee the microbiological, nutritional, and sensorial aspects of food products, this study investigates the effect of CO2 preservation treatment on the sensory quality of pomegranate juice at t0 and after a conservation period of four weeks at 4 &deg, C (t28). The same initial batch of freshly squeezed non-treated (NT) juice was subjected to non-thermal preservation treatments with supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2), and with a combination of supercritical carbon dioxide and ultrasound (CO2-US). As control samples, two other juices were produced from the same NT batch: A juice stabilized with high pressure treatment (HPP) and a juice pasteurized at high temperature (HT), which represent an already established non-thermal preservation technique and the conventional thermal treatment. Projective mapping and check-all-that-apply methodologies were performed to determine the sensory qualitative differences between the juices. The volatile profile of the juices was characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results showed that juices treated with supercritical CO2 could be differentiated from NT, mainly by the perceived odor and volatile compound concentration, with a depletion of alcohols, esters, ketones, and terpenes and an increase in aldehydes. For example, in relation to the NT juice, limonene decreased by 95% and 90%, 1-hexanol decreased by 9% and 17%, and camphene decreased by 94% and 85% in the CO2 and CO2-US treated juices, respectively. Regarding perceived flavor, the CO2-treated juice was not clearly differentiated from NT. Changes in the volatile profile induced by storage at 4 &deg, C led to perceivable differences in the odor quality of all juices, especially the juice treated with CO2-US, which underwent a significant depletion of all major volatile compounds during storage. The results suggest that the supercritical CO2 process conditions need to be optimized to minimize impacts on sensory quality and the volatile profile.

[EN] Supercritical carbon dioxide inactivation technology represents a promising nonthermal processing method, as it causes minimum impact on the nutritional food properties. The aim of this study was to analyze the combined effect of supercritical carbon dioxide and high-power ultrasound on the inactivation of natural microbiota and the quality attributes of pineapple juice treated in a continuous flow system. Different juice residence times (3.06-4.6min), at 100bar and 31.5?, were used. The results indicated that the microbiota inactivation was complete and the differences obtained in the quality attributes (2.2% for pH, 4.8% for degrees Brix, 2% for vitamin C) were minimal. During storage, microorganisms were not able to recover and the vitamin C decrease could be limited to 8.2% after four weeks. The results demonstrated that the supercritical carbon dioxide-high-power ultrasound technique could be an excellent alternative for the cold pasteurization of pineapple juice., The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the PROMETEOII\2014\005 project financed by the Generalitat Valenciana (Conselleria d'Educacio, Cultura i Esport, Valencia, Spain). The authors acknowledge the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT) for the scholarship awarded to PhD Student Paniagua-Martinez, I.

[EN] Laboratory continuous regime equipment was designed and built for supercritical CO2 microbial inactivation assisted by high power ultrasound (SC-CO2-HPU). Apple juice, previously inoculated with 1-10x107 CFU/ml of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was treated in the equipment at different juice residence times (3.06-9.2 min), temperatures (31-41 °C) and pressures (100-300 bars). Inactivation ratios were fitted to a hybrid (boolean-real) model in order to study the effect of the process variables. The maximum inactivation achieved by the system was 7.8 log-cycles. The hybrid model demonstrated that HPU has a significant effect on inactivation after shorter residence times. A multi-objective optimization performed with the hybrid model showed that 6.8 log cycles of inactivation could be obtained after a minimum residence time (3.1 min) with HPU application, whereas under the same conditions but without HPU, the inactivation would be 4.3 log-cycles. Therefore, the ultrasound assisted continuous system has shown a great potential for microbial inactivation using SC-CO2 under mild process conditions., This work was supported by the PROMETEOII\2014\005 project financed by the Generalitat Valenciana (Conselleria d'Educacio, Cultura i Esport, Valencia, Spain). The authors acknowledge the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT/N. 218273) for the scholarship awarded to PhD Student Paniagua-Martinez, I. The authors especially wish to thank Eng. Ramon Pena for his technical assistance in the development of the equipment.

[EN] Ultrasound can intensify the heating process used to correct texture defects in dry-cured hams. The effect of ultrasound-assisted heating on the proteome of sliced dry-cured ham was evaluated. Dry-cured hams with high proteolysis index (PI > 36) were sliced, vacuum packed and subjected to conventional (CV) and ultrasound-assisted (US) thermal treatments. Comparative proteome profiling between sample groups was assessed by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. It was found that protein fragmentation increased markedly after US thermal treatment. Specifically, fragments of the major myofibrillar protein, actin, were abundantly over-represented following US heating. In addition, five unfragmented sarcoplasmic proteins (i.e. fatty acid-binding protein, peroxiredoxin-6, superoxide dismutase, carbonyl reductase and aminoacylase) showed increased abundance in the US sample group. These results suggest candidate biomarkers to monitor proteolysis intensity and proteolysis-independent effects linked to cured ham quality by ultrasound application. Significance: The present proteome profiling study of treated dry-cured ham demonstrates the impact of ultrasound action on proteins. Moreover, negative organoleptic effects can be appearing with ultrasound treatment due to proteolysis increase. Therefore, the proteolysis monitoring could help to control these effects. In this regards, our results suggest that actin can be a candidate biomarker to monitor proteolysis intensity., This research was supported by Grant RTA 2013-00030-C03-03 from INIA (Spain). Acknowledgements to INIA for granting Cristina Perez Santaescolastica with a predoctoral scholarship (grant number CPD2015-0212). Jose M. Lorenzo is member of the MARCARNE network, funded by CYTED (ref. 116RT0503).

[EN] The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of ultrasound on supercritical fluid extraction for the recovery of antioxidants and saponins from agave bagasse as a green extraction technique. When a mass load of 0.086 g/cm(3) was used, ultrasound effect was not observed, due to sample swelling and compaction within the cell. For 0.043 g/cm(3), the intensification effect of ultrasound was significant (p < 0.05) and its magnitude depended on the transducer geometry. For a multiplate transducer geometry, antioxidant capacity increased from 12.18 +/- 1.01 to 20.91 +/- 1.66 mu mol TE/g; and saponins from 19.05 +/- 1.67 to 61.59 +/- 1.99 mu g/g, when ultrasound was applied. Although the amount of bioactives extracted is low, the use of a multiplate transducer design was able to intensify the supercritical fluid extraction of phytochemicals from agave bagasse. Consequently, this type of transducer can become an alternative for the application of ultrasound on the supercritical fluid extraction of other suitable agro-industrial by-products, The authors are grateful for the financial support from CONACYT CVU 270166, Mexico; NutriOmics Chair from Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico; and Nutrigenomics Research Chair from Fundacion FEMSA, Mexico. We thank the technical support from the ASPA group technicians and Albino Vargas from AGMEL S.A de C.V for donating agave bagasse for this project

[EN] The impact of low temperattire treatment and its combination with ultrasound has been evaluated in order to correct texture defects in dry-cured hams. A total of 26 dry-cured hams, classified as high proteolysis index (PI > 36%), were used. From these hams, ten slices from each ham sample were cut, vacuum packed and submitted to three different treatments: control (without treatment), conventional thermal treatments (CV) and thermal treatment assisted by power ultrasound (US). The impact of these treatments on instrumental adhesiveness, free amino acid and volatile compounds profile were assessed. Statistical analysis showed that both US and CV treatments, significantly (P, This research was supported by Grant RTA 2013-00030-CO3-03 from INIA (Spain). Acknowledgements to INIA for granting Cristina Perez Santaescolastica with a predoctoral scholarship (grant number CPD2015-0212). Jose M. Lorenzo is member of the MARCARNE network, funded by CYTED (ref. 116RT0503).

[EN] Bearing in mind the highly variable salt content in dry-cured meat products with anatomical integrity, such as pork loin or ham, non-destructive salt content characterization and the online monitoring of dry salting are highly relevant for industrial purposes. This study explores the ability of low-intensity ultrasound to monitor the dry salting of pork Biceps femoris (BF) and Longissimus dorsi (LD) online, as well as to estimate the salt content, both in these muscles and in hams. For this purpose, meat samples were dry salted for up to 16 d at 2 C. During the salting of the muscles, the ultrasonic velocity was continuously measured at time intervals of 5 min, while in the hams it was measured before and after salting. The ultrasonic velocity increased progressively during the salting due to salt gain and water loss, reaching a velocity variation (DV) of 46.8 m/s after 16 d of dry salting for hams and 59.5 and 30.6 m/s after 48 h of dry salting for LD and BF, respectively. Accurate correlations between salt gain and DV were obtained (R2 ¿ 0.903 in LD-BF muscles and R2 ¿ 0.758 in hams), which allowed the assessment of the salt content with an average estimation error of 0.4% w.b. for both muscles and hams. Further research should investigate the use of the time of flight obtained through the pulse-echo mode, instead of the ultrasonic velocity, in order to improve the industrial applicabili, This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO), Instituto Nacional de Investigacion y Tecnologia Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF 2014-2020) (contract n. RTA2013-00030-C03-02), by the PROMETEOII\2014\005 and by the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV) through the FPI grant awarded to Marta de Prados (SP-1.2011-S1-2757).

[EN] The present work was carried out to model the effect of E-beam treatment on the safety,shelf-life and sensory attributes of two poultry products, steaks and hamburgers, and tooptimize the radiation treatment. The inactivation of Salmonella spp. by means of differ-ent irradiation doses was modeled using a first order kinetics. The shelf-life was studiedby periodically counting the bacterial number in samples. For the modeling of experimen-tal data, only the exponential phase of growth was taken into account. The effect of theirradiation dose on the sensory attributes (appearance, odor and flavor) and instrumen-tal color (L*, a* and b* parameters) was modeled using the Gompertz function and theActivation Inactivation or linear models. The optimization of the irradiation dose was car-ried out by maximizing the sensory scores of samples and minimizing the instrumentalcolor changes. The safety and the shelf-life of samples were ensured by introducing con-straints into the optimization problem. In the case of hamburgers, the optimum calculateddose was 2.04 kGy, which guarantees the safety of the product and provides the best combi-nation of sensory and instrumental attributes. As regards the steaks, the optimum assesseddose was 1.11 kGy, significantly lower than for hamburgers, The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Project CSD2007-00016 (CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010) and AGL 2010-19158, both funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.

[EN] Mild thermal treatments could be considered a feasible technique with which to improve the texture of dry-cured ham. This study explores the feasibility of using power ultrasound (PuS) to intensify heat transfer during the mild thermal treatment of dry-cured ham immersed in a liquid medium. For that purpose, a temperature controlled ultrasonic bath was used to avoid the water temperature rise due to cavitation during ultrasonic application, which could mask the actual effect of ultrasound in heat transport mechanisms. Experiments were carried out using dry-cured ham slices (thickness 2 cm), which were heated at different temperatures (40, 45, 50 degrees C) with (PuS) and without (conventional mechanical stirring, CV) ultrasonic assistance. Temperature was monitored in the two main muscles of the ham (Biceps lemons and Semimembranosus) and in different positions of the slice. A model that considered heat transfer entirely controlled by conduction was chosen for describing heating kinetics and quantify the influence of temperature and ultrasonic application in the apparent thermal diffusivity. The heat conduction model proposed was adequate to describe both CV and PuS heating kinetics (VAR > 98.6%). Ultrasound application sped up the heat transfer by increasing the apparent thermal diffusivity up to 51%, but the higher the temperature, the lower the ultrasonic intensification. The apparent thermal diffusivities identified for the slices were satisfactorily validated (VAR > 98.4%) in independent experiments with ham cylinders. Therefore, PuS could be considered as an effective technology for the purposes of accelerating the heat transfer, thus shortening the heating time of dry-cured ham slices immersed in a liquid medium., The authors acknowledge the financial support from the "Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO), Instituto Nacional de Investigation y Tecnologia Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA)" in Spain, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF 2014-2020) (Project RTA2013-00030-C03-02) and the PhD grant of M. Contreras from Universitat Politecnica de Valencia.

[EN] Multi energy X-ray sensors are able to differentiate and quantify X-rays of different energies. In contrast to conventional sensors, which simply record the overall energy of the X-rays whatever the energy of x-rays is, multi energy sensors provides a spectrum of the X-rays energies, which may be differently attenuated. In this study, the feasibility of this technology to detect changes in dry-cured ham slices after inducing proteolysis was evaluated. Effect of salt and water contents on the attenuation was also studied. In addition, the classification of commercial samples according to their proteolysis index was assessed. Results showed a decrease of attenuation for increasing proteolysis induction times (p < 0.01) for all the regions of the spectrum (energy bands), but not with the same intensity, at any of the analysed acquisition conditions. Salt and water contents produced a significant (p < 0.01) effect on the attenuation. Influence of salt content was higher than that of water content, and both affected the prediction of the proteolysis index. Classification score of commercial samples exhibited a limited discrimination capacity, showing the need for more sophisticated data analysis. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved., This work was partially supported by INIA (contract n. RTA201300030-0O3-01), Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (PEJ2014-A34573) and CERCA programme from Generalitat de Catalunya.

[EN] The application of power ultrasound (PuS) could be used as a novel technology with which to intensify thermal treatments using hot air. Mild thermal treatments have been applied to improve the soft texture of dry-cured ham caused by defective processing. In this regard, the aim of this study was to assess the kinetic intensification linked to the application of airborne PuS in the mild thermal treatment using hot air of dry-cured ham. For this purpose, vacuum packed cylindrical samples (2.52±0.11cm in diameter and 1.90±0.14cm in height) of dry-cured ham were heated using hot air at different temperatures (40, 45, 50°C) and air velocities (1, 2, 3, 4, 6m/s) with (22.3kHz, 50W) and without PuS application. Heat transfer was analyzed by considering that it was entirely controlled by conduction and the apparent thermal diffusivity was identified by fitting the model to the heating kinetics. The obtained results revealed that PuS application sped up the heat transfer, showing an increase in the apparent thermal diffusivity (up to 37%). The improvement in the apparent thermal diffusivity produced by PuS application was greater at high temperatures (50°C) but negligible at high air velocities (6m/s). Heating caused an increase in the hardness and elasticity of dry-cured ham, which would correct ham pastiness defects, while the influence of PuS on such textural parameters was negligible., The authors acknowledge financial support from the "Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO), the Institute Nacional de Investigacion y Tecnologia Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA)" in Spain, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF 2014-2020) (Project RTA2013-00030-C03-02) and the PhD grant of M. Contreras from the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Ref 2447 FPI-Programe 1-2015).

[EN] Power ultrasound is applied in food technology to intensify extraction processes, due to the phenomena ultrasonic energy induces in the medium, enhancing mass transfer. The purpose of this work was the acoustic characterization of four transducers of different geometries and the evaluation of their performance in the ultrasonically assisted supercritical fluid extraction of antioxidants from oregano. The transducers differed in the amount of energy transmitted into the medium. Designs varied from the base model (T1), a larger cylindrical headmass (T2), a stepped circular section sonotrode (T3) and a multiplate configuration (T4). The highest nominal power density provided according to the calorimetric method was for T4 (151.6 +/- 7.1 W/L). The T2 produced a more uniform acoustic field and a higher acoustic pressure (150.6 +/- 20.5 kPa). Both parameters had an impact on total phenolics and antioxidants extraction with CO2 under supercritical conditions (35 MPa, 35 degrees C, 2.3% ethanol as co-solvent). T4 and T2 were equally efficient (4.0 +/- 0.2 and 4.2 +/- 0.2 mg GA/g) for phenolic extraction, and with respect to antioxidant capacity, the best performance was that of T4 (26.4 +/- 1.1 mu mol TE/g). Of the antioxidant compounds extracted, flavones and flavanones were identified. Therefore, transducer geometry influenced the amount and distribution of energy transmitted into the medium, thus determining the efficiency of the extraction process., This work was supported by the PROMETEOII\2014\005 project financed by the Generalitat Valenciana (Conselleria d'Educacio, Cultura i Esport, Valencia, Spain).

[EN] Defective textures in dry-cured ham are a common problem that causes important economic losses in the ham industry. An increase of proteolysis during the dry-cured ham processing may lead to high adhesiveness and consumer rejection of the product. Therefore, the influence of proteolysis index (PI) on instrumental adhesiveness, free amino acids and volatile profile of dry-cured ham was assessed. Two hundred Spanish dry-cured ham units were firstly classified according to their PI: low PI ( < 32%), medium PI (32-36%) and high PI ( > 36%). Instrumental adhesiveness was affected by PI, showing the lowest values in the batch with low PI. Significant differences (P < 0.05) among groups were found in six amino acids: serine, taurine, cysteine, methionine, isoleucine and leucine. The content of leucine, serine, methionine, and isoleucine significantly (P < 0.05) increased as the proteolysis index rose. However, taurine and cysteine content showed an opposite behaviour, reaching the highest values in the dry-cured hams with low PI. Significant differences (P < 0.001) in the total content of volatile compounds among ham groups were observed, with the highest concentration in the batch with low PI, and decreasing the concentration as the PI increased. Regarding the different chemical families of volatiles, the hydrocarbons (the main family), alcohols, aldehydes, ketones and acids were more abundant in the hams showing the lowest PI. Esters did not show significant differences among the three batches of hams studied. The present study demonstrated that, apart from the effect on the adhesiveness, an excessive proteolysis seems to be associated with negative effects on the taste and aroma of the dry-cured ham., This research was supported by Grant RTA 2013-00030-CO3-03 from INIA (Spain). Acknowledgements to INIA for granting Cristina Perez Santaescolastica with a predoctoral scholarship. Jose M. Lorenzo is member of the MARCARNE network, funded by CYTED (ref. 116RT0503).

[EN] Online ultrasound measurements were taken using pulse-echo mode in loins (Longissimus dorsi) and hams at different salting times (up to 30 days). From the time-domain ultrasonic wave, the time of flight (TOF) was computed as well as its variation between two signals (Delta TOF). A progressive decrease in TOF during dry salting was found, which was linked to the salt gain, water loss and the reduction in sample thickness. Predictive models based on the ultrasonic parameters (Delta TOF and initial time of flight, TOF0) correctly classified 85% of the loins and 90% of the hams into 3 groups of salt content (low/medium/high): The results obtained confirm that the use of the ultrasonic pulse-echo technique is of great potential in the non-destructive monitoring of dry salting in pork loins and hams, as well as in the prediction of the salt gain for classification purposes. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved., This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO), the Instituto Nacional de Investigation y Tecnologia Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF 2014-2020) (contract n. RTA2013-00030-C03-02), by the PROMETEOII\2014\005 and by the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV) through the FPI grant awarded to Marta de Prados (SP-1.2011-S1-2757)

[EN] The effect of high power ultrasound (US) application and pressure on the supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) kinetics of cocoa butter and on characteristics of the extracted cocoa butter (fatty acids composition, transition temperatures, polyphenol content and antioxidant activity) has been evaluated. Extraction experiments were carried out at 40 degrees C and at two pressure levels of 400 bar and 550 bar, without and with US application of 50 +/- 5 W, the extraction yield being significantly improved as the pressure increased and the ultrasound was applied. A Weibull model allowed the accurate simulation of the extraction curves, considering a constant shape factor alpha which was affected only by the US application, whilst the rate constant beta was affected by both pressure and US application. In general, for all cocoa butter samples, the transition temperatures observed corresponded to the polymorph alpha, T-c = 9.9 +/- 0.3 degrees C and T-m = 20.2 +/- 0.4 degrees C. With regard to the fatty acid composition, the stearic (37.8 +/- 0.8%), oleic (33.7 +/- 0.2%), and palmitic (26.0 +/- 0.6%) were the major acids, and none were found to be influenced by either pressure or ultrasound application. Similarly, the total polyphenol content and antioxidant activity were not affected by extraction conditions. The microstructure of cocoa beans after processing was affected by pressure and also by ultrasound application which promoted a breaking of the cell arrangement, facilitating the butter extraction. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved., The authors would like to acknowledge the Spanish Government (MICINN), and European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), the European Social Fund (FSE) and the Govern de les Illes Balears for their financial support (DPI2009-14549-C04-02, DPI2012-37466-C03-02, AGL 2012-34627, Project 57/2011).

[EN] The inactivation kinetics of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) cells in apple juice subjected to supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) assisted by high power ultrasound (HPU) at different pressures (100 350 bar, 36 °C) and temperatures (31 41 °C, 225 bar) were studied. On average, shorter process times were required to achieve the total inactivation of S. cerevisiae (2 6 min) in apple juice than E. coli (7 min). The inactivation kinetics of E. coli and S. cerevisiae were satisfactorily described by the Peleg Type A and theWeibull model, respectively, considering temperature and pressure as model parameters. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and light microscopy (LM) techniques were used to study the cellular changes of SC-CO2 (350 bar, 36 °C, 5 min) and SC-CO2+HPU (350 bar, 36 °C, 5 min, 40W)treated cells. TEMand LMimages revealed that 5 min of SC-CO2 treatment generated minor morphological modifications, although no inactivation of the cells was obtained. However, 5 min of SC-CO2+HPU treatment totally inactivated the population of both microorganisms. SC-CO2 + HPU produced the degradation of the internal cell content and the disruption of the cell wall and plasmalemma, which prevented the possible regrowth of the cells during refrigerated storage., The authors acknowledge the financial support from project CSD2007-00016 (CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation) and from project PROMETEO/2010/062; Generalitat Valenciana. We thank Dr. Emilia Matallana and Dr. Paula Alepuz for the generous gift of S. cerevisiae T73 and E. coli DH1 strains, respectively.

[EN] In this work, the feasibility of using non-contact ultrasonic techniques (air-coupled and scanning acoustic microscopy, SAM) for characterizing different dry-cured meat products was assessed. Air-coupled ultrasonic measurements were performed on vacuum packaged sliced dry-cured ham, and compared with contact measurements. The average ultrasonic velocity in dry-cured ham was 1846 +/- 49 m/s and 1842 +/- 42 m/s for air-coupled and contact measurements, respectively. The deviation (1% relative error) between both techniques was related to the influence of the heterogeneous structure and composition of dry-cured ham and the transducer focusing. The SAM was used to characterize dry-cured ham and chorizo samples. B-scan images for dry-cured ham and chorizo showed two dominant reflections from the sample, linked to reflections in the lean and fatty tissues. The results indicate that contact ultrasonic measurements could be replaced by the air-coupled technique, reducing the measuring time and the material handling. On the other hand, SAM technique allows the microscopic characterization of dry-cured meat products. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved., The authors acknowledge the financial support from the "Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad" in Spain through the Projects RTA 2010-00029-C04-02 and DPI2011-22438.

[EN] Ultrasonic velocity was used to characterise the differences in composition and texture of Biceps Femoris muscles from four batches of pigs of different genetics (Iberian and Iberian x Duroc) and feeding systems ("montanera" and concentrate). Significant differences (p, The authors acknowledge financial support from the "Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia" in Spain (Projects RTA 2010-00029-004-02: CONSOLIDER - Ingenio 2010: CARNISENUSA (CSD2007-00016)) and the valuable advice of Professor Jesus Ventanas.

Meat industry demands non-destructive techniques for the control of the salting process to achieve a homogeneous final salt content in salted meat products. The feasibility of using low-intensity ultrasound for characterizing the salting process of pork meat products was evaluated. The ultrasonic velocity (V) and time of flight (TF) were measured by through-transmission and pulse-echo methods, respectively, in salted meat products. Salting involved an increase of the V in meat muscles and a decrease of the time of flight in whole hams. Measuring the V before and after salting, the salt content could be estimated. Moreover, online monitoring of the salting process by computing the TF could be considered a reliable tool for quality control purposes

The main aim of this work was to assess the influence of the application of power ultrasound during blanching of mushrooms (60–90 °C) on the shrinkage, heat transfer, and quality parameters. Kinetics of mushroom shrinkage was modeled and coupled to a heat transfer model for conventional (CB) and ultrasonic-assisted blanching (UB). Cooking value and the integrated residual enzymatic activity were obtained through predicted temperatures and related to the hardness and color variations of mushrooms, respectively. The application of ultrasound led to an increase of shrinkage and heat transfer rates, being this increase more intense at low process temperatures. Consequently, processing time was decreased (30.7–46.0 %) and a reduction in hardness (25.2–40.8 %) and lightness (13.8–16.8 %) losses were obtained. The best retention of hardness was obtained by the UB at 60 °C, while to maintain the lightness it was the CB and UB at 90 °C. For enhancing both quality parameters simultaneously, a combined treatment (CT), which consisted of a CB 0.5 min at 90 °C and then an UB 19.9 min at 60 °C, was designed. In this manner, compared with the conventional treatment at 60 °C, reductions of 39.1, 27.2, and 65.5 % for the process time, hardness and lightness losses were achieved, respectively. These results suggest that the CT could be considered as an interesting alternative to CB in order to reduce the processing time and improve the overall quality of blanched mushrooms., Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos, Facultad de Ingeniería, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales

[EN] This works aims to show the feasibility of using low-intensity ultrasound (US) to predict the salt content in brined Biceps femoris (BF) and Longissimus dorsi (LD) pork muscles. For this purpose, meat samples were salted in brine solution (20% w/w at 2 degrees C) for different times (24, 48, 96 and 168 h) and the US velocity measured before and after salting. In addition, model samples with preset water and salt contents were formulated and the US velocity was measured. In the model samples, the salt content (X-S) had a more marked effect on the US velocity (13.0 m/s per Delta X-S = 1% wet basis) than the water content (5.0 m/s per Delta X-w = 1% wet basis). The salt gain and the water loss during brining caused the US velocity to increase (61.5 and 49.3 m/s for 168 h in LD and BF, respectively). Significant linear relationships between the US velocity and both factors (X-S and X-w) were established (R-2 > 0.771). A predictive model of the salt content based on the US velocity was proposed; this was successfully validated (average estimation error 0.48%), which shows the feasibility of using US for industrial quality control purposes. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved., This work was supported by the spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) and Instituto Nacional de Investigacion y Tecnologia Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA) (contracts n. RTA2010-00029-004-01/02; RTA2013-00030-003-02), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and by the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV) through the FPI grant awarded to Marta de Prados.

[EN] This work addresses the use of ultrasound (US) and medical dual energy X-ray absorptiometry methods to predict the fat content in green pork hams. Ultrasonic velocity (õ) and X-ray absorption were measured in 78 green hams. An increase in the fat content involved an increase in õ and a decrease in the X-ray attenuationmeasured at 2 °C.Models developed to predict the fat content fromthe ultrasonic velocity or X-ray parameters provided errors of 2.97% and 4.65%, respectively. The combination of both US and X-ray technologies did not improve prediction accuracy. These models allowed green hams to be classified into three levels of fatness, with 88.5% and 65.4% of the hams correctly classified when using models based on ultrasonic and X-ray parameters, respectively. Therefore, US and X-rays emerge as useful quality control technologies with which to estimate the fat content in green pork hams, This work was supported by the spanish Instituto Nacional de Investigacion y Tecnologia Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA) (contracts n. RTA2010-00029-CO4-01/02) and by Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV) through the FPI grant given to Marta de Prados (SP-1.2011-S1-2757).

[EN] The combined effect of supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) and high power ultrasound (HPU) on the inactivation kinetics of Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and pectin-methyl esterase (PME) in orange juice was studied in order to select models that can predict their inactivation behaviour based on process parameters. Experiments were performed at different temperatures (31-41 degrees C, 225 bar) and pressures (100-350 bar, 36 degrees C). The inactivation rate of E. coli, S. cerevisiae and PME increased with pressure and temperature during SC-CO2 + HPU treatments. The SC-CO2 + HPU inactivation kinetics of E. coli, S. cerevisiae and PME were represented by models that included temperature, pressure and treatment time as variables, based on the Biphasic, the Peleg Type B, and the fractional models, respectively. The HPU-assisted SC-CO2 batch system permits the use of mild process conditions and treatment times that can be even shorter than those of continuous SC-CO2 systems. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved., The authors acknowledge the financial support from project CSD2007-00016 (CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Madrid, Spain) and from project PROMETEO/2010/062 financed by the Generalitat Valenciana (Conselleria d'Educacio, Cultura i Esport, Valencia, Spain). The authors acknowledge the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia for the FPI grant given to Carmen Ortuno Cases and Dr. Emilia Matallana and Dr. Paula Alepuz for the generous gift of S. cerevisiae T73 and E.coli DH1 strains, respectively.

[EN] The objective of the study was to analyze the influence of high power ultrasound (HPU) on the supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) inactivation kinetics of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and to determine the effect of the temperature (31-41 degrees C), pressure (100-350 bar) and composition of the medium (YPD Broth, apple and orange juice) on the process of inactivation. Using a batch-mode SC-CO2 at 350 bar and 36 degrees C, a reduction of 6.7 log-cycles was obtained after 140 min of treatment. However, when HPU (40 W +/- 5 W and 30 kHz) was applied during the SC-CO2 treatments, a reduction of 7 log-cycles was achieved after 2 mm of treatment for all pressures and temperatures applied. The effect of increasing pressure (from 100 to 350 bar, 36 degrees C) or temperature (from 31 to 41 degrees C, 225 bar) did not significantly influence this inactivation level. The application of ultrasound leads to a vigorous agitation and cavitation which could accelerate the SC-CO2 dissolving in the medium. This accelerates the penetration of CO2 into cells and its inactivation mechanisms. In batch operations the application of HPU increases the speed of reaching saturation solubility of CO2 in many liquid media and significantly reduces microbial inactivation times. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved., The authors acknowledge the financial support from project CSD2007-00016 (CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and from the PROMETEO/2010/062 project financed by the Generalitat Valenciana. We thank Dr. Emilia Matallana for the generous gift of S. cerevisiae Lalvin T73 strain.

Ultrasonic measurements were used to characterize the effect of high pressure treatment (HPT) (600 MPa/6 min) or cold storage (6 °C/120 days) on the textural properties of vacuum packaged dry-cured ham. The ultrasonic velocity, textural properties and fat content were determined in the ham packages. The ultrasonic velocity was related to the ham hardness, which depends on the sample composition. HPT induced molecular alterations which resulted in an average increase in the hardness of lean tissue of 0.2 N and one of 0.3 N in that of fatty tissue. These textural changes give rise to a velocity increase (8 m/s for lean and 17 m/s for fatty tissue). The cold storage of the Iberian hamalso led to an increase in hardness (average 1.10 N) and ultrasonic velocity (average 70 m/s). Therefore, the non-destructive ultrasonic technique could be a reliable method with which to assess the textural changes induced by HPT or cold storage on packaged dry-cured ham., The authors acknowledge the financial support from the "Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad" in Spain (Project RTA 2010-00029-C04-02).

[EN] The antioxidant properties of medicinal plants have been at the center of research for their use as preservatives or nutraceuticals by the food industry; additionally, to obtain quality products at a minimum cost and maximum yield, through optimal operating parameters, is a challenge for the food industry. The aims of this work was to effect operating conditions drying process on antioxidant capacity of the thyme and optimize the drying process creating a process management system to formulate and solve an optimization problem. The thyme drying process was analyzed under different drying air temperatures (T) (40-80 degrees C) and drying air velocity (V) (1-2 m/s). The essential oil was extracted by applying a super-critical fluid extraction method (35 degrees C, 35 x 10(3) kPa). To formulate and solve the optimization problem, artificial neural networks were developed. The optimum value of the optimization problem depend of the constraints established, shorting the drying time to research the final moisture content fixed. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved., The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Spain through the MICINN (DPI2009-14549-C04), from CARNISENUSA project (CSD2007-00016) included in the program CONSOLIDER-INGENIO-2010.

[EN] A combined treatment of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) and dense phase carbon dioxide (DPCD) was investigated to inactivate pectin methylesterase (PME), peroxidase (POD) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) in feijoa (Acca sellowiana) puree. The treatments were HHP (HHP); carbonation and HHP (HHPcarb); carbonation + addition of 8.5 mL CO2/g puree into the headspace of the package and HHP (HHPcarb + CO2). The different samples were treated at 300,450 and 600 MPa, for 5 min. The residual POD and PPO activity decreased in the order HHP>HHPcarb> HHPcarb+ CO2 at all pressures used. Treatments with HHP at 300 MPa increased POD activity to 140%. The residual PME activity of HHPcarb and HHPcarb+ CO2 samples at 600 MPa (45-50%) was significantly (p, The authors acknowledge the financial support from project CSD2007-00016 (CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and to the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia for the FPI grant given to Carmen Ortuno Cases.

[EN] The effect of ultrasound on the SC-CO2 inactivation kinetics of E. coli at different pressures (100, 225, 290 and 350 bar; 36 degrees C), temperatures (31 degrees C, 36 degrees C and 41 degrees C; 225 bar) and varying the composition of the medium (LB Broth, apple and orange juice) was studied. Using only SC-CO2 the inactivation rate in LB Broth increased progressively as the pressure or temperature rose and the average (for the different process conditions) time needed to achieve a reduction of 8 log-cycles was 50 min. When both SC-CO2 and ultrasound were used in LB Broth, 95% less time was needed, on average, to achieve the same reduction of 8 log-cycles and the effect of pressure and temperature was minimized; this reduction being achieved after only 2 min at 31 degrees C and 225 bar. Using the ultrasonic system led to a shorter process time regardless of the treatment medium, preventing the inhibitory effect that the solutes from the juices had on the SC-CO2 inactivation. The technology developed permits both a drastic decrease in SC-CO2 inactivation times and also the use of mild process conditions, which could lead to an increase in the quality of the product treated under this new technique. Industrial Relevance: Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) inactivation technology represents a promising nonthermal processing method, although a too long treatment time is required to guarantee food safety. A patented inactivation technique based on Supercritical Fluids incorporating an ultrasonic transducer is presented. A drastic decrease of the inactivation time is found when high power ultrasound is applied to the SC-CO2 inactivation process coupled with the food industry's need for short process times. The inactivation process is improved regardless of the pressure, temperature or treatment medium. Therefore, mild process conditions (time, pressure, temperature) can be used, which result in a higher quality treated product. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved., The authors acknowledge the financial support from the project CSD2007-00016 (CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and from the project PROMETEO/2010/062 financed by the Generalitat Valenciana. We thank Dr. Paula Alepuz for the generous gift of E. coli DH1 strain.

[EN] The use of new or non-conventional technologies widens the food processing innovation possibilities. Among technologies with a potential application, high intensity ultrasonics has emerged. Ultrasound is a mechanical wave that can affect transport phenomena. Accordingly, the effect associated to ultrasonic application will be dependent on the medium where ultrasound is travelling and on the material to be affected. In this work, ultrasonic applications in different media, such as liquid, gas and supercritical fluid, are addressed as innovative alternatives to enhance transport phenomena and highlight the main factors affecting the process, The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (DPI2009-14549-C04-04), Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (Fondos FEDER) Ref.: PSE-060000-2009-003 and Generalitat Valenciana, Programa PROMETEO/2010/062.

[EN] The aim of this work was to investigate the influence of the culture growth stage on the inactivation kinetics of Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2)and to find models that can describe and predict the inactivation behavior of these microorganisms considering the growth stage as one of the model parameters. Cultures of E. coli and S. cerevisiae were grown to four different growth stages: early exponential phase, intermediate exponential phase, late exponential phase and early stationary phase and then treated with SC-CO2 at 350 bar and 35 degrees C. The inactivation kinetics of S. cerevisiae and E. coli showed that the SC-CO2 resistance increased progressively as the growth phase advanced. For both microorganisms, the length of the lag phase increased progressively as the growth phase advanced, not appearing at all in the earliest growth stages. For S. cerevisiae, an equation based on the Gompertz Function satisfactorily described (R-avg.(2) = 0.96; RMSEavg. = 0.48) the inactivation kinetics of this microorganism for the four growth stages selected. Similarly, a single equation that included the dependence on the growth stage was obtained for E. coli, based on the Weibull Function (R-avg.(2) = 0.96; RMSEavg.. = 0.53). The results reveal that the inactivation kinetics using SC-CO2 are greatly influenced by the growth stage and the application of the developed models could be used to find the optimal process conditions according to the cell's growth stage. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved., The authors acknowledge the financial support from the project CSD2007-00016 (CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and from the project PROMETEO/2010/062 financed by Generalitat Valenciana. We thank Dr. Emilia Matallana and Dr. Paula Alepuz for the generous gift of S. cerevisiae T73 and E. coli DH1 strains, respectively.

S alting process plays a key role in the preservation and quality of dry-cured meat products. Therefore, an adequate monitoring of salt content during salting is necessary to reach high quality products. Thus, the main objective of this work was to test the ability of low intensity ultrasound to monitor the salting process of pork meat. Cylindrical samples (diameter 36 mm, height 60±10 mm) of Biceps femoris were salted (brine 20% NaCl, w/w) at 2 oC for 1, 2, 4 and 7 days. During salting and at each experimental time, three cylinders were taken in order to measure the ultrasonic velocity at 2 oC. Afterwards, the cylinders were split in three sections (height 20 mm), measuring again the ultrasonic velocity and determining the salt and the moisture content by AOAC standards. In the whole cylinders, moisture content was reduced from 763 (g/kg sample) in fresh samples to 723 (g/kg sample) in samples salted for 7 days, while the maximum salt gain was 37.3 (g/kg sample). Although, moisture and salt contents up to 673 and 118 (g/kg sample) were reached in the sections of meat cylinders, respectively. During salting, the ultrasonic velocity increased due to salt gain and water loss. Thus, significant (p

[EN] The E-beam irradiation of vacuum-packaged RTE cooked ham was carried out to establish the dose required to achieve the food safety objective (FSO) and to minimize changes in selected sensory attributes. Cooked ham was irradiated with doses ranging 1-4 kGy. After the treatment, the microbial inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes, the shelf-life of the product and some sensory attributes (appearance, odor, and flavor) were determined. The inactivation of L monocytogenes was satisfactorily described by a first-order kinetics equation (R2=0.99). The influence of the irradiation dose on appearance, odor, and flavor was modeled through Gompertz (R2=0.99, for appearance) and Activation/Inactivation (R2=0.99, for odor and flavor) equations. A model was also developed to determine the shelf-life of irradiated cooked ham depending on the irradiation dose (R2 > 0.91). The dose that maximized the scores of the sensory attributes was 0.96 kGy resulting in an acceptable sensory quality for 80 days. It is possible to apply up to 2 kGy to ensure microbial safety, while provoking no significant changes in the above mentioned sensory attributes. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved., The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Project CSD2007-00016 (CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

[EN] Fresh cheese composition was assessed by measuring ultrasonic velocity in cheese and cheese blends at different temperatures Twenty types of commercial fresh cheeses with fat contents ranging from 0 2% to 17 6% w b were analyzed Ultrasonic velocity was not only heavily dependent on the composition of the cheese but also on its structure Based on the different effect temperature has on velocity in water and fat a semi-empirical model was used to estimate the cheese composition from velocity measurements at six temperatures ranging from 3 to 29 degrees C The model provided good results for the assessment of the fat (R-2 = 0 984/0 996 RMSE = 46/1 1 for whole and blended cheese respectively) and water (R-2 = 0964/ 0 995 RMSE = 6 5/0 7 for whole and blended cheese respectively) content The ultrasonic measurements could be carried out during the cooling process that takes place after curdling and used as a quality control tool to detect process anomalies in-line (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved, The authors acknowledge financial support from the Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia in Spain (Project AGL 2007-65923-C02-02) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development CNPq in Brasil (Proc No 200918/2007-9) and the UPV (Vicerrectorado de Investigacion Desarrollo e Innovacion Proc No 246)

[EN] The aim of this work was to evaluate the use of ultrasonic measurements to characterize the crystallization process and to assess the textural changes of Iberian fat and Iberian ham during cold storage. The ultrasonic velocity was measured in two types of Iberian fats (Montanera and Cebo) during cold storage (0, 2, 5, 7 and 10 ºC) and in vacuum packaged Iberian ham stored at 6ºC for 120 days. The fatty acid profile, thermal behaviour and textural properties of fat were determined. The ultrasonic velocity and textural measurements showed a two step increase during cold storage, which was related with the separate crystallization of two fractions of triglycerides. It was observed that the harder the fat, the higher the ultrasonic velocity. Likewise, Cebo fat resulted harder than Montanera due to a higher content of saturated triglycerides. The ultrasonic velocity in Iberian ham showed an average increase of 55 m/s after 120 days of cold storage due to fat crystallization. Thus, non-destructive ultrasonic technique could be a reliable method to follow the crystallization of fats and to monitor the changes in the textural properties of Iberian ham during cold storage.

A method combining supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) and high power ultrasound (HPU) has been developed and tested for microbial/enzyme inactivation purposes, at different process conditions for both liquid and solid matrices. In culture media, using only SC-CO2, the inactivation rate of E. coli and S. cerevisiae increased with pressure and temperature; and the total inactivation (7-8 log-cycles) was attained after 25 and 140 min of SC-CO2 (350 bar, 36 ºC) treatment, respectively. Using SC-CO2+HPU, the time for the total inactivation of both microorganisms was reduced to only 1-2 min, at any condition selected. The SC-CO2+HPU inactivation of both microorganisms was slower in juices (avg. 4.9 min) than in culture media (avg. 1.5 min). In solid samples (chicken, turkey ham and dry-cured pork cured ham) treated with SC-CO2 and SC-CO2+HPU, the inactivation rate of E. coli increased with temperature. The application of HPU to the SC-CO2 treatments accelerated the inactivation rate of E. coli and that effect was more pronounced in treatments with isotonic solution surrounding the solid food samples. The application of HPU enhanced the SC-CO2 inactivation mechanisms of microorganisms, generating a vigorous agitation that facilitated the CO2 solubilization and the mass transfer process. The cavitation generated by HPU could damage the cell walls accelerating the extraction of vital constituents and the microbial death. Thus, using the combined technique, reasonable industrial processing times and mild process conditions could be used which could result into a cost reduction and lead to the minimization in the food nutritional and organoleptic changes