Food processing

• Food preservation is the process of preventing food spoilage or decay.
• Major categories of sweeteners:

  • Nutritive sweeteners
  • High potency sweeteners
• Nutritive sweeteners:

  • Gives nutrients or nutritive body function and energy
  • Caloric sweeteners providing energy (carbohydrates)
• High potency sweeteners:

  • Sweet with added caloric content from sugar
  • Not high in calories
  • High caloric sweeteners increase energy in the body
  • Caloric sweeteners have high caloric value and give high energy
• Samples of Nutritive sweeteners:

  • Table sugar (mostly sucrose)
  • Molasses (concentrated sugarcane juice)
  • Honey (41% fructose, 34% dextrose, 2% sucrose)
  • Syrup from maple
  • Corn
  • Brown sugar alcohol
  • Sugar alcohol (e.g., Sorbitol, Manitol, Salynitol, Maltitol)
• Non-caloric sweeteners:

  • Provide insignificant calories
  • High potency sweeteners are sweeter than table sugar
• HPS/Non-nutritive sweeteners:

  • Possess no or negligible caloric value
  • High intensity sweeteners
• Saccharins:

  • Discovered in 1879
  • 300x sweeter than table sugar
  • Oldest non-nutritive sweetener approved for beverages
  • Primarily used in soft drinks like cola
• Cyclamates:

  • Approximately 30x sweeter than sucrose
  • Sugar-like taste
  • Heat stable
  • Synergistic effect with saccharin or aspartame
• Aspartic/Aspartame:

  • 200x sweeter than sucrose
  • Used in frozen desserts and soft drinks
  • Improved in 1981 in the US
• Advantane:

  • Similar to aspartame but sweeter
  • Used in normal products like coffee, tea, and cooking ingredients
• Acesulfame K:

  • Discovered in 1967 in Germany
  • 200x sweeter than sucrose
  • 3% concentration in solution
  • Heat stable with no significant aftertaste
• Sucralose:

  • Discovered in 1967 in Germany
  • 600x sweeter than sucrose
  • Non-carcinogenic with no aftertaste
  • Heat, acid stable
• Alitame:

  • Amino acid-based sweetener
  • Approximately 2000x sweeter than sucrose
  • Used in candies, ice creams, bakery products, and snacks
  • Highly soluble in water with good thermal stability and shelf life
• Other intense sweeteners:

  • Thaumatine (2000-2500x sweeter than sucrose)
  • Datasubstituted and betaamino acid (20,000x sweeter than sucrose)
  • Thrisubstituted guanidines (170,000x sweeter than sucrose)
  • Steveoside and Rebauside (40-250x sweeter than sucrose)
  • Miraculine from miracle fruit
• Pearson’s square:

  • Used for calculating sugar concentrations
• Refractometer:

  • Measures total soluble solids in a solution
  • Used to compute the sweetness of products
• How to compute sweetness of products:

  • Brix is a unit of total soluble solids
  • Use a refractometer to measure sweetness levels
  • Brix ranges from 0-35 degrees
  • Digital refractometers measure from 0-85 degrees
• Major categories of sweeteners:
• Nutritive sweeteners:

  • Gives nutrients or nutritive body function and energy
  • Caloric sweeteners that provide energy (carbohydrates)
• High potency sweeteners:

  • Sweetest with added caloric content from sugar
  • High caloric sweeteners that increase energy in our body
  • Should be balanced with activities that release the calories (e.g., exercises like jogging or running)
• Samples of Nutritive sweeteners:

  • Table sugar, molasses, honey, syrup from maple, corn, brown sugar alcohol
  • Brown sugar is mostly sucrose (85-92%)
  • Molasses is concentrated sugarcane juice with large amounts of sucrose and other sugars and acids
  • Honey contains 41% fructose, 34% dextrose, 2% sucrose, and 18% moisture
  • Syrup from maple, corn, brown sugar alcohol, and sugar alcohol
• Non-caloric sweeteners:

  • Insignificant calorie content
  • High potency sweeteners or high intensity sweeteners that are sweeter than table sugar
  • HPS/Non-nutritive sweeteners possess no or negligible caloric value
• High intensity sweeteners:

  • Saccharins discovered in 1879, 300x sweeter than table sugar, primarily used in soft drinks like cola
  • Cyclamates are approximately 30x sweeter than sucrose, have a sugar-like taste, and are heat stable
  • Aspartame is 200x sweeter than sucrose, used in frozen desserts and soft drinks, improved in 1981 in the US
  • Advantame is similar to aspartame but sweeter, used in normal products like coffee, tea, and as an ingredient in cooking
• Other intense sweeteners or low caloric sweeteners:

  • Thaumatin is approximately 2000-2500x sweeter than sucrose
  • Alitame is approximately 2000x sweeter than sucrose, amino acid-based, highly soluble in water, and used in candies, ice creams, bakery products, and snacks
  • Stevioside and Rebaudioside are from the stevia plant, 40-250x sweeter than sucrose
  • Miraculin is from the miracle fruit, good storage stability
• Pearson’s square:

  • Used to calculate sweetness of products
  • Involves initial TSS reading, purity of sugar, desired TSS concentration, and calculations for differences and quotients
• Sugar concentrates


  Group of products made by boiling together the fruit, and sugar to give a high solid content product of at least 65%
• Mode of preservation

  • High OP= lowers Aw