Chemical changes during food processing

Chemical changes that occur during food processing are numerous, and they can be desirable, undesirable of questionable consequence or a combination thereof.

Chemical changes that occur affect its overall quality and may influence both its major and minor components and sensory attributes.

Browning reactions may be caused by enzymatic oxidation of polyphenols and other susceptible compounds if the oxidizing enzymes are not activated.

Advantages that might be attained due to processing of food might relate to reduction in its content of hazardous anti-nutrients such as enzyme inhibitors, cyanogens, glucosinolates, among others as well as control of microbial and enzymatic spoilage.

The major disadvantages of food processing are:
*harm to the sensory properties and nutritive value of some foods, particularly when severe methods of processing are applied to tissues of foods.
*development during some kinds of processing and handling of new chemicals that must be classed as toxicologically undesirable.

The two major chemical changes that occur during the processing and storage of foods, leading to deterioration in sensory quality are lipid oxidation and non-enzymatic browning.

Chemical reactions are also responsible of changes in the color and flavor of foods during processing and storage.

All the changes including chemical, physical, biological, nutritional and sensory, can be measured, so their progress during processing can be followed.

The progress of processing can be measured un many ways, such as chemical analysis, physical measurements, counts of microorganism and color, texture and flavor assessments by sensory panels.
Chemical changes during food processing