RESUMEN
Breast milk is the main source of nutrition during early life, but both infant formulas (Ifs; up to 12 months) and baby foods (BFs; up to 3 years) are also important for providing essential nutrients. The infant food industry rigorously controls for potential physical, biological, and chemical hazards. Although thermal treatments are commonly used to ensure food safety in IFs and BFs, they can negatively affect sensory qualities, reduce thermosensitive nutrients, and lead to chemical contaminant formation. To address these challenges, non-thermal processing technologies such as high-pressure processing, pulsed electric fields, radio frequency, and ultrasound offer efficient pathogen destruction similar to traditional thermal methods, while reducing the production of key process-induced toxicants such as furan and 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural (HMF). These alternative thermal processes aim to overcome the drawbacks of traditional methods while retaining their advantages. This review paper highlights the growing global demand for healthy, sustainable foods, driving food manufacturers to adopt innovative and efficient processing techniques for both IFs and BFs. Based on various studies reviewed for this work, the application of these novel technologies appears to reduce thermal processing intensity, resulting in products with enhanced sensory properties, comparable shelf life, and improved visual appeal compared to conventionally processed products.
RESUMEN
The colloidal properties of the casein micelles play a major role in the structural properties of milk protein concentrates. Because of their great technological importance, the structural-functional relationships of casein micelles have been studied for decades in skim milk; however, novel ingredients are now available with higher protein concentrations and varying in composition. The colloidal behavior of caseins in these systems is not fully understood. Concentrates prepared with membrane technologies, and subjected to pre- or post-modifications that affect their technological functionality, have become increasingly widespread. This has created large opportunities for innovation and generation of value-added ingredients. The manner in which caseins interact with themselves and the other components in these concentrates will affect the structure of the final matrix. During concentration by filtration, the interparticle distance between the micelles decreases considerably, increasing their spatial correlation and decreasing their diffusivity. Rearrangements occur due to changes in environmental conditions, such as ionic composition, osmotic stress, shear, pH, or heating temperature. This will have important consequences on bulk viscosity of the concentrates, as well as on the mode of formation of structures' building blocks. This paper aims at highlighting some of the important factors affecting the colloidal structure of casein micelles, their destabilization and network formation, namely, processing history, volume fraction, composition of the serum phase, and ionic equilibrium. Understanding these factors will lead to a better quality control of dairy ingredients and to the development of a new generation of ingredients with targeted functionality.