Food coating applications in: electrostatic atomization, non-electrostatic coating and electrostatic powder coating

Several coating applications in the food industry were studied, emphasis was given to functionality and comparison of electrostatic to non-electrostatic coating. The applications studied included electrostatic atomization of food emulsions and water-soluble additive, kinetics of color and texture development in potato products as a result of carbonyl coating, and effect of electrostatic powder coating on functionality enhancement of additives.;Electrostatic atomization of food oils cannot be achieved without increasing the conductivity of the oil (<10-10muS/cm) into the atomizable range (∼10-6--10-9 muS/cm). The few additives suggested for use in the food industry (e.g. coloring agents, stabilizers and alcohols) require relatively high usage levels (3--20%), and have very narrow usage areas as they contribute either flavor or color. Electrostatic atomization of water-soluble food additives and emulsions cannot be achieved using current atomization methods, limiting the utilization of the process in the food industry. This study sought to create a general atomization aid for food oils. The study also sought to create a method to electrostatically atomize emulsions and water-soluble additives.;Color and texture development during the cooking of potato products is one of the main drivers of consumer acceptability. A comparison of color and texture development in raw and par-fried French fries and potato rounds processed by deep fat frying, microwaving and baking was performed. The effect of wood pyrolysis-derived carbonyls on color and texture development in potato products was also studied and compared to traditional dextrose-derived browning agents. The processing method had a significant effect on the reaction rates of color and texture development during processing. Frying produced the highest color values on the control samples and microwave produced the highest color for the coated samples. The addition of wood-pyrolysis derived carbonyls, or dextrose-derived additives led to a significant increase in color production over the control but had no statistically significant effect on texture. The kinetics of color and texture development indicated that the processing method and the addition of additives had no effect on the reaction order, which remained a zero-order reaction. The restructuring process has a significant effect on the rate of the color generation reaction with non-restructured products displaying faster color development during frying and microwaving and restructured products displaying faster color development during baking. The restructuring process has a significant effect on the rate of texture development with non-restructured products displaying faster texture development than restructured products in all cooking methods. Finally the study produced prediction models for color and texture generation in potato products processed by different methods. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).