Abstract
Organic production is often regarded as more sustainable compared with conventional production. However, in most cases only the primary production step on farm is considered while the postharvest processing is neglected. Even though the sector strives towards sustainable processing, the techniques used in dehydration and refrigeration processes for organic products are often similar to conventional processing whereby opportunities to improve product quality and environmental impact are often ignored. Thus there is a great potential for increasing sustainability.
Regarding dehydration, processors of organic products often face restrictions in terms of processing temperatures that could lead to challenges regarding product quality. Big potentials to overcome this issue are increased air velocities to remove the evaporated moisture from the product surface. Even product temperature controlled drying offers big potentials for sustainable processing. Especially sensitive products such as herbs need an appropriate processing and holds several issues.
The used refrigerant plays a decisive role in terms of sustainable processing, while good product quality depends mainly on the raw material and in achieving the final storage temperature as fast as possible. Innovations for the organic sector such as superchilling of animal products offer opportunities for extended shelf life under chilling temperature with reduced disadvantageous effects compared with frozen products. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Regarding dehydration, processors of organic products often face restrictions in terms of processing temperatures that could lead to challenges regarding product quality. Big potentials to overcome this issue are increased air velocities to remove the evaporated moisture from the product surface. Even product temperature controlled drying offers big potentials for sustainable processing. Especially sensitive products such as herbs need an appropriate processing and holds several issues.
The used refrigerant plays a decisive role in terms of sustainable processing, while good product quality depends mainly on the raw material and in achieving the final storage temperature as fast as possible. Innovations for the organic sector such as superchilling of animal products offer opportunities for extended shelf life under chilling temperature with reduced disadvantageous effects compared with frozen products. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.