Event

Consumer and technological insights for improving the quality of osmo-dehydrated mango

Summary:

Consumption of fruit and vegetables supports a healthy life, however, the consumption is globally insufficient compared with the WHO-recommended amount (400 g/day). Consumption of dried fruit can contribute to meeting this recommendation. Dried fruits contain high levels of nutritional and health- promoting compounds, and are perceived by consumers as tasteful. Yet, the processing of fruit can change consumers’ perception of dried fruit quality. This research explored the insights on consumers’ health perception toward dried mango among different cultures and connects them to optimize the product and process design to achieve a higher dried mango quality. Based on the technological studies, the observed effects of applying vacuum impregnation and high pressure preceding osmotic dehydration (OD) to mango are valuable to modify OD efficiency and achieve the desired quality of OD mango (nutrition, color, and texture). The combination of modelling the OD mass transfer and vitamin C retention enables optimization of the process to improve the health aspects of osmo-dehydrated mango. Furthermore, the results of this research highlight that taking into account both the consumer and technological insights is useful to optimize product and process design of dried mango with the desired quality.