Increased mass transfer during osmotic dehydration of γ-irradiated potatoes

Abstract

γy-irradiation pretreatment was tested to accelerate the osmotic dehydration of potato. Applied irradiation in the range of 3.0 to 12.0 kGy resulted in decrease in hardness of the potato sample, as indicated by texture profile analysis. The effective diffusion coefficients (D) of water and solute determined using a Fickian diffusion model increased exponentially with doses of γ-irradiation (G) according to an equation of the form D = A exp(-B/G), where A and B are constants. The microstructures of irradiated potato samples resulted in swelling and aggregation of starch granules as well as breaking up of cell wall structure, leading to channeling effect, facilitating transport of water from the tissue and solute into it.