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OTT-CSIC-> Catalogue -> Technologies by Areas -> Food Technology ->
CSIC AGRO027- Procedure to obtain Fresh-cut Artichokes without sulfites
A research group from a Spanish public research institute has developed a technology to obtain Fresh-Cut Artichokes without sulfites. The procedure combines physical methods with natural chemical preservatives to keep the organoleptic, nutritional and microbial quality of fresh-cut artichokes under refrigeration. The technology is cheap and easy to implement. Companies from the agrifood sectors are sought for license agreements.
Specification sheet:
Artichoke is vegetable typical of the mediterranean diet with important nutritional properties as its content in fiber, vitamin C and phenolic compounds. However, the consumption of this product is decreasing due to its tedious preparation. Consumers demand ready to eat or ready to cook foods, but they also look for natural and fresh foods, and with high nutritional value. For this reason there has been an increase in the development of fresh-cut vegetables. So nowadays, there is a wide range of fresh-cut vegetables on the market. However, there are no fresh-cut artichokes, as the technologies that have worked properly for other vegetables have not been able to be used for artichokes.The main characteristics of fresh cut products are that they are fresh products, 100% edible, with high organoleptic, nutritional and microbial quality, and very convenient to the consumer. To obtain them, it is necessary to peel and/or cut the product, and these operations produce different reactions that reduce the shelf life and spoil it. In the case of fresh-cut artichokes, enzymatic browning is the main cause that reduces their quality. For this reason, it is especially difficult to obtain fresh-cut artichokes.Although there are effective inhibitors of browning, as sulfites, they can produce off-odors and asthmatic reactions to people allergic to these compounds.

The technology developed for fresh-cut artichokes combines physical methods with natural chemical preservatives, different to sulfites, which allows to control enzymatic browning. This new technology let to obtain fresh-cut artichokes, which until now were not available. The combination of treatments used, besides inhibiting the enzymatic browning allows to obtain fresh cut artichokes with high organoleptic, nutritional and microbial quality. This new product is an alternative to the different artichoke products that are available in the market: frozen artichokes, canned or precooked.

The technology developed applies simple physical methods (leaves removing, cutting and washing), combined with a sanitizer treatment, followed by packaging with plastic polymers of selective permeability (and even with moderate partial vacuum) and refrigeration in actively modified atmosphere which controls and protects the product from physical damages and physical, chemical or microbial contamination. These treatments allow keeping their nutritional, organoleptic and microbial characteristics and they provide a more convenient product than the whole one.

The fresh-cut artichokes obtained by this technology, could be packaged as wholes (when only the stem and external leaves have been removed) or cut ( in halves, in quarters, in slices..).

INNOVATIVE ASPECTS

The technology developed is innovative as allows combining chemical treatments with physical methods to control the spoilage reactions of the artichokes during the production and storage. This combination of treatments, besides inhibiting the browning reaction allows to obtain freshly cut artichokes, which keep all the nutritional value of the fresh product, as well as maintain their initial organoleptic properties. On the other hand, the artichoke products commercially available now are frozen, canned or precooked, which have nothing in relation wit a fresh product.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

The main advantage of this technology is that it allows to offer consumers a new product ready to eat or ready to cook with a consistent quality and uniform, increasing the possibilities of consumption of a healthy product. It reduces the cooking time as it is prepared for its immediate used and the product is completely used as it is wholly eatable. For these reasons companies acquiring this technology would improve their position in the market as well as increase their market quote with the subsequent economic benefit for them.

KEYWORDS

008001004 Food processing.
008001003 Food packaging/ handing.
008002003 Safe production methods

PATENT

P200402348, applied for at 10/1/2004

CONTACT

Yolanda Hernando
email: yhernando@cebas.csic.es
phone: +34 968 39 63 56/ 62 00

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