Dutch company, Pulsemaster, is introducing a Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) pilot-scale, batch unit under the brand name, Solidus, to determine the effects of PEF on whole potato tubers to make French fries and crisps. What is new is that tissue damage prior to PEF treatment will be avoided. For the first time the food and scientific sectors have an instrument to determine the impact of PEF on plant cell viability in intact plant tissues or whole solids, such as large whole potato tubers, prior to installing industrial sized PEF systems.
Solid plant materials that have been mechanically fragmented prior to PEF treatment, such as plant tissue slices, cylinders, strips, cubes or discs, will have already experienced considerable tissue damage, which is likely to impact on the nature of the PEF induced changes. This problem is now solved by using the Solidus unit. Pulsemaster's Solidus PEF pilot-scale batch unit allows you to determine the impact of PEF on plant cell viability in intact solid plant tissues or whole organs. With this batch system, trials with PEF can be performed with whole solids, such as single potatoes, vegetables or fruits up to trials with several kgs or lbs per batch, to improve food processes, to create new processes, products and to measure value.
Today PEF technology is used commercially in the potato industry. PEF technology induces electroporation, leading to increased cell membrane permeability which also affects tissue structure in a way to soften potato tissues, resulting in better cutting quality and accuracy, obtaining smoother surfaces of French fries and crisps, less product breakage and feathering, improved diffusion processes and lower oil uptake. In addition, electroporated potato cells are more prone to the release of intracellular compounds, such as reducing sugars involved in the Maillard reaction and hence reducing the tendency of fried potatoes to brown during frying. For the manufacturing of French fries you can fully explore with Pulsemaster's Solidus the technological potential and benefits, process-product interactions and savings during processing steps, like peeling, cutting, blanching, drying, frying and freezing.
Precise selection of parameters made simple
A potato tuber is a living intact plant organ, and is made up of several tissue types with different cellular properties and functionalities. A potato tuber is a complex heterogeneous structure. Optimization of PEF treatment of potato tubers requires precise selection of optimal electric field strength, pulse duration, repetition time, and temperature of treatment. Rather than using small, mechanically fragmented potato pieces for PEF product development, the results of pulsed electric fields, visualized using whole solids, will be more representative if intact potato tubers are used and the tubers are positioned inside the PEF chamber with the same orientation, like during real time industrial manufacturing for all the PEF parameters tested.
Mark de Boevere, Managing director of Pulsemaster: "A strong point of our approach is that a sufficiently large PEF chamber can be used to fit large potato tubers and the use of this large chamber does not restrict the range of electric field strengths that can be used. The PEF treatment chamber is fully encapsulated and the electrode system is properly grounded. You can touch this PEF pilot-scale batch unit while it is operating without a problem. Off-the-shelf components and standardized parts are used whenever possible in engineering the Solidus PEF pilot-scale batch unit. The electric field strength is adjusted by the output voltage. The specific energy is calculated based on the number of pulses applied."
Surprisingly effective
Pulsemaster offers this versatile Solidus PEF pilot-scale batch unit for sale or trial rental. It is a cell disintegration method based on pulsed electric fields, dedicated for PEF product development. A non-thermal cell membrane permeabilization treatment, is surprisingly effective to enhance process optimisation in the food industry. Commercial-scale development of pulsed electric field systems continues at Pulsemaster to increase yields and to reduce the cost of processes like drying, osmotic treatment, freezing, extraction and diffusion processes.
