Structural design of natural plant-based foods to promote nutritional quality

During traditional industrial processing of fruit and vegetable derived foods, consideration of the eventual retention, bio-accessibility or bio-availability of nutrients has hitherto been a secondary priority. Indeed standard processing of soups and sauces involves treating all ingredients in a similar way, usually by prolonged heat treatment and results in both lowered nutritional value and sensory quality of food products. Such products are typically structured using various additives including starches, gums and stabilizers, which consumers regard as unnatural, rather than exploiting the endogenous structuring potential of the fruit and vegetable ingredients as available at the farm gate. Recent studies undertaken within the EU sponsored ‘Healthy Structuring’ project have shown how to design an industrially manufactured product with good sensory qualities that is natural and nutritious. The strategy has been to use the inherent structural and nutritional properties of the raw material ingredients, on the one hand to ensure the textural quality of the final product without the use of artificial gums or stabilizers and, on the other hand to optimize the nutritional quality of the final product. This review briefly summarizes both the approach taken and the results obtained within the project.