Mass transfer of pork meat cubes (M. triceps brachii), shaped as 1x1x1 cm, during osmotic dehydration (OD) and under atmospheric pressure was investigated in this paper. The effects of different parameters, such as concentration of sugar beet molasses (60-80%, w/w), temperature (20-50?C), and immersion time (1-5 h) in terms of water loss (WL), solid gain (SG), final dry matter content (DM), and water activity (aw), were investigated using experimental results. Five artificial neural network (ANN) models were developed for the prediction of WL, SG, DM, and aw in OD of pork meat cubes. These models were able to predict process outputs with coefficient of determination, r2, of 0.990 for SG, 0.985 for WL, 0.986 for aw, and 0.992 for DM compared to experimental measurements. The wide range of processing variables considered for the formulation of these models, and their easy implementation in a spreadsheet calculus make it very useful and practical for process design and control.

The osmotic dehydration (OD) of celery root in sugar beet molasses was studied at three temperatures (20, 35, and 50 °C) and three immersion periods (1, 3, and 5 h) in order to examine the changes in antioxidant potential and phenolic profile of celery root throughout the process. The antioxidant capacity (AOC) of dehydrated samples was evaluated by spectrophotometric and polarographic assays, the total phenolic content by the Folin-Ciocalteu method, and the individual phenolic compounds by HPLC-DAD. As a result of OD in molasses, the AOC and phenols content in samples increased proportionally to the augmentation of temperature and the immersion time. Vanillic acid, syringic acid, and catechin were detected in dehydrated samples as a result of transfer from molasses. Compared to fresh celery root, the content of identified phenols in osmodehydrated samples was improved from 1.5 to 6.2 times. Strong correlations between applied assays were obtained, except for the DPPH. Based on the correlation analysis chlorogenic acid, gallic acid, chrysin, catechin, and kaempferol showed the greatest contribution to the overall AOC of osmodehydrated celery root. Molasses, an agro-industrial waste from sugar production, could be valorized as a valuable osmotic solution.

The present study investigated the effect of incorporating 10, 20, and 30% apple powder obtained by freeze-drying, and apple powder produced with osmotic pre-treatment in sugar beet molasses solution, into muffins. The powder was freeze-dried and introduced as a whole spelt wheat flour replacement in muffins. The obtained products were investigated for their chemical composition and technological properties, and were subjected to a sensory analysis as well as a consumer acceptance test. Increasing the substitution level from 0 to 30% apple powder lowered the protein, starch, and fat content, while moisture content, sugar, and cellulose showed the opposite trend. The sensory analysis results indicated that the addition of apple powder or apple powder with osmotic pre-treatment (apple OT+Lyo powder) to the ingredients of muffins positively affected the taste, smell, mastication, and appearance of the final product. Consumers rated the muffins with 30% apple OT+Lyo powder as the most acceptable. Principal component analysis, an artificial neural network, and global sensitivity analysis were utilized to differentiate among muffin samples, and to estimate the corresponding influence of the substitution of spelt flour with apple powder or apple OT powder on the observed quality and nutritional parameters of the muffins.

The effects of yeast extract addition, with varied quantities of salt and sugar, on the chemical and mineral composition, colour and sensory properties of spelt bread, in order to obtain new products were investigated. The addition of 5 % yeast extract positively influenced the mineral characteristics and increased protein content by 30.77 %. As a salt substitution, addition of yeast extract improved appearance without deteriorating texture descriptors and breadcrumb quality, while the taste became more complex, but without increasing salty taste. Addition of sugar in samples with yeast extract, improved most sensory characteristics. The developed mathematical models of bread with yeast extract quality parameters were statistically significant, indicating the satisfactory approximation of the bread quality parameters within the varied formula. Bread samples with addition of 5 % yeast extract, 1.5 % of salt and 0 % sugar were determined as the best from the aspect of overall quality. A new product was obtained with good total quality, higher level of nutritional value and reduced salt content.

Osmotic dehydration is important food preservation method because of many advantages considering mild processing temperature, base waste material and low energy requirements. The goal of this research was to investigate the effects of the process temperaute, time and osmotic solution concentration on the effectiveness of the chicken meat osmotic dehydration process in osmotic solution of sodium сhloride and sucrose. Developed mathematical models had good fit with experimental data, while maximal obtained values of process responses of: dry matter content: 58.30 ± 0.22%; water loss: 0.4791 ± 0.0014 g/g_i.s.; solid gain: 0.1579 ± 0.0024 g/g_i.s. and water activity: 0.800 ± 0.001; indicated on good dehydration levels and that applied osmotic solution is very good osmotic medium. Application of principal component analysis has provided better visualization in differentiation of the samples, while score analysis was used to point at optimal combination of technological parameters in effort to obtain best osmotic dehydration process results. Process of osmotic dehydration is commonly used technique for food processing since its low energy requirements for water removal, minimal waste material and possibility of producing new types of food products from animal and plant raw matterials. This study investigates the effects of applied technological parameters on the process of osmotic dehydration of chicken meat. Developed mathematical models in this research can be considered as precise for process parameters prediction and optimization in experimental and industrial applications. The analysis of the osmotic dehydration process efficiency points at the optimal combination of applied technological parameters in effort to obtain best osmotic dehydration process results.