Preface

Nowadays, there is a difference between food technology and food engineering. The first treats the application of methods of food preservation and food processing, while food engineering is a more complex area focusing on a combination of food and applied sciences such as microbiology, physical sciences, chemistry, and engineering.

Achieving food quality with respect to its flavor and stability is a complex process, especially when considering the large variety of flavor compounds and diversity of food accepted by consumers. Knowledge of all mechanisms involved in the change of food flavor during processing and storage and identifying the techniques for its constant quality assurance is essential. The desire for food producers to succeed in the global food market involves lengthy periods until the product reaches the consumer. Innovative cost-effective technologies are being introduced capable of satisfying consumers' quality demands.

Advanced processing methods tend to preserve the characteristic properties of food better, including its sensory and nutritional qualities, when compared with conventional food processing methods. Additionally, there is a clear rise in those suffering from food allergies. This fact is widely attributed to the changing livelihoods of populations in both developed and developing nations. The return to ancient food recipes by the industrial reinterpretation of food could be a successful alternative to a healthier lifestyle and a rising consumer trust in industrialized food.

In this book a selection of novel technologies applied to food preservation, sugar replacement, and food fortification with various bioactive compounds is presented in a series of original research and review chapters. Given the rapid growth of engineering fields, namely the food industry with novel food process technologies, novel ingredients, advanced enzyme production and applications, and other complementary technologies, this book will disclose the latest trends in food engineering. This text is a compilation of selected research articles and reviews covering current efforts in research in and application of emerging technologies in the food industry. The chapters in this book are divided into three broad sections. Section 1 deals with introductory information about enzyme application, preserving treatments (such as thermal treatment, active packaging concepts) in a sustainable, cost-effective manner, inclusion in food processing of wild edible plants as a part of cultural and generic heritage, and the upscaling of extraction techniques to increase the bioavailability of bioactive compounds. Section 2 provides data concerning the food industry's emerging technologies. Section 3 reveals the latest trends in food fortification. Overall, this book serves as an inspiring source for both scientific and industrial actors or anyone involved in any aspect related to the food industry.

I am most appreciative to Ms. Romina Skomersic, the Author Service Manager, who supervised and organized the publishing of all materials, assisted me and the authors in the completion of our work in an easy, timely manner, and provided helpful advice and guidance throughout this project. I thank the authors for their wonderful contributions. I also thank the technical editors who prepared these

**II**

**Section 3**

*and Mihai Mihaela*

*and Roberto Jorge Aguerre*

Food Fortification **105**

**Chapter 6 107**

**Chapter 7 133**

*by María Laura Gómez Castro, Claudia Cecilia Larregain, Ethel Noemi Coscarello* 

Food Fortification through Innovative Technologies

*by Vlaic Romina Alina, Mureşan Crina Carmen, Muste Sevastita, Mureşan Andruţa, Muresan Vlad, Suharoschi Ramona, Petruţ Georgiana* 

Fibers: Healthy Component in Whole Wheat and Rye Flours

manuscripts for publication by IntechOpen Access. I thank too my family and colleagues, support staff, and administrators at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca for their support throughout this process.

> **Teodora Emilia Coldea, PhD** University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

> > **1**

Section 1

Introductory Chapter

Section 1 Introductory Chapter

**3**

**Chapter 1**

Engineering

*Teodora Emilia Coldea*

actual consumer's quality demands.

**1. Introduction**

Introductory Chapter: A General

Overview on Latest Trends in Food

Foods represent a complex mixture of hundreds of components, which contribute to their characteristic flavor. Nowadays, assuring the food's flavor stability represents an issue of food industry involved actors, becoming one of the main technological challenges. An educated consumer has increasing demands related to food quality perception over the last years. As a consequence, the food flavor instability is a critical quality issue of food industry. Achieving food's quality in respect to its flavor and stability is a complex process, especially by considering the large variety of flavor compounds and diversity of food accepted by consumers. The knowledge of all mechanisms involved in food flavor changes during processing and storage period is compulsory. Ideally, food should have the same flavor from the moment of packaging to the moment it gets to the consumer. Unfortunately, food is exposed to chemical reactions starting with the moment it is taken out from the plant. Given the actual trend of big food industry producers to accede to the global food market, this involves longer durations on which the product passes until it arrives to the consumers, contributing in increasing risk of its quality damage. New innovative costeffective technologies are in discussion, capable of satisfying the

Foods were thermally treated for cooking purposes since many centuries ago, firstly to modify and preserve their organoleptic and nutritional characteristics. Anthropologists agree that thermal cooking of food had a great impact on phenotypical properties, intellectual development of mankind, and later to the society, depending on economy, culture, and geography. The transfer from home cooking to industrialized processes began in the late nineteenth century, firstly aiming food preservation and later, after the Second World War, focusing food safety and quality issues [1]. Food engineering as a study discipline was first introduced in West European countries willing to offer a curriculum for actors in the food industry, including chemical engineering aspects, food microbiology, and biology. Nowadays, there is a difference between food technology and food engineering. The first treats the application of methods of food preservation and food processing, while food engineering is a more complex area focusing on a combination between food and applied sciences such as microbiology, physical sciences, chemistry, and engineering. Thermal food processing is one of the most efficient methods of preservation.

Beneficial effects include inactivation of food pathogens, natural toxins, and other unwanted changes, prolonging the shelflife, adjusting the food digestibility, increasing the bioavailability of nutrients, and improving the functional properties. Still, thermal processing usually comes with unwanted changes in food composition

## **Chapter 1**
