Textural Quality Comparison between Aseptic Processing and Conventional Canning of Apple Slices in a Commercial Plant

Aseptic processing and conventional canning are both thermal processes that include heating, holding, cooling, and packaging steps. In aseptic processing, packaging is done after the heat transfer steps, so product quality as well as packaging size and material options are generally improved. The objective of this study was to compare aseptic processing and conventional canning based on textural quality of apple slices. Aseptic processing of apple slices heated by direct steam contact was investigated in this study, and heat penetration testing was used to determine processing time by measuring the time required for the center of apple slices to consistently reach the setpoint temperature of 82.2°C. In canning, can center temperature was tested for the same conditions. Samples of Golden Delicious, cored, sliced, and unpeeled apple slices were taken from a commercial processing line and aseptically processed based on the processing time determined by heat penetration testing. The remainder of the apple slice population was commercially canned. The texture of the aseptically processed and canned apple slices was compared by measuring the peak shear force using a Kramer shear device. Compared to the texture of conventionally canned apple slices, aseptic processing improved the texture of apple slices by 57.4%, 31%, and 30.5%, respectively, for the three processing days. Aseptically processed apple slices consistently required a higher shear force than conventionally canned slices, indicating that the former were of higher quality.