Title: Application of Emerging Pulsed Electric Field Technology in Fermented Milk Products

Biography:

Dr. Preeti, holds Ph.D degree in Dairy Engineering from ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), master’s degree (2014) in Food Process Engineering and Management from NIFTEM and graduation (2012) in Dairy Technology from ICAR-NDRI.  She is recipient of university UG-Bronze medal. She has worked on empowerment of villagers in food processing sector by forming self-help groups, homemade products.  She has won prizes in oral and poster presentations. 

Abstract

Milk is renowned as complete food since from time immemorial. India is the largest producer of milk in the world. In addition to achieving the set targets for production, it is extremely important to support the same with necessary processing technologies. Dairy products have been part of the socio-economic culture of the Indian sub-continent from time immemorial. Fermented products contribute to about 5% of the Indian Dairy products and accounts for an annual turnover of Rs. 2.8 thousand million. Pulsed electric field (PEF), which is one of the emergent non-thermal processing techniques, is widely considered as a viable alternative to conventional thermal processing. The present study was taken up to evaluate PEF treatment of raw milk as a potential technique to pre-treat raw milk before its conversion to fermented products such as curd or Dahi. Raw milk was treated with high voltage (PT) with square wave pulses (55kV, pulse width 900 µs, for 100 s at a frequency of 90 Hz) using a in house-assembled PEF applicator and evaluated for its effect when used to prepare curd. PEF treated milk in combination with conventional thermal treatment (PT-CHT) was employed as a positive control, while conventionally heated milk (CHT) was employed as a negative control in this evaluation. PT samples resulted in softer body of curd with higher acidity and microbial load, while the PT-CHT samples resulted in curd with better whey holding capacity and firmer texture compared to PT and CHT in isolation. Shelf life analysis revealed that a 25% reduction in shelf life curd prepared by PT, while the shelf life curd prepared using the CH and PT-CHT were similar. The study demonstrated the interactive effect of moderate heat and PEF treatment as a promising alternative to thermal process in improving the quality of curd, without compromising its shelf life.