Innovative Processing Technologies to Develop a New Segment of Functional Citrus-Based Beverages: Current and Future Trends

Foods. 2022 Nov 29;11(23):3859. doi: 10.3390/foods11233859.

Abstract

The food industries are interested in developing functional products due to their popularity within nutritional and healthy circles. Functional fruit-based beverages represent one of the fast-growing markets due to the high concentrations of bioactive compounds (BCs), which can be health promoters. Hence, functional beverages based on citrus fruits are a potential way to take advantage of their nutritional and bioactive properties that could attract the interest of consumers. In order to ensure microbial and quality stability, the beverages are subjected to preservation treatment; however, the application of high temperatures leads to the loss of thermolabile BCs. Nowadays, innovative processing technologies (IPT) such as pulsed electric field (PEF), high-pressure processing (HPP), ultrasound processing (US), ohmic heating (OH), and microwave (MW) are a promising alternative due to their efficiency and low impact on juice BCs. The available literature concerning the effects of these technologies in functional fruit-based beverages is scarce; thus, this review gathers the most relevant information about the main positive and negative aspects of the IPT in functional properties, safety, and consumer acceptance of functional citrus-based beverages, as well as the use of citrus by-products to promote the circular economy in citrus processing.

Keywords: by-products; circular economy; citrus; food processing; functional beverages.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the MEDISMART project—Mediterranean Citrus innovative soft processing solutions for S.M.A.R.T (Sustainable, Mediterranean, Agronomically evolved nutritionally enriched Traditional) products (reference number: 2019-SECTION2-20) and through Portuguese national funds from FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (reference: PRIMA/0014/2019).