Since many traditional food preservation technologies have negative influence on food quality attributes, more careful analyses of the processes are required. Thermal processes influence several of the components of a food, and cause changes in physical structure as well as other sensory attributes. Often, these processes can be designed to ensure the desired outcomes in terms of preservation, and still minimize the influence on key quality attributes. The overall objective of this presentation is to discuss process models required to maximize quality retention, while meeting the goals of preservation. For these applications, an optimization model depends on two elements. The first is the kinetic models needed to describe the influence of the preservation process on shelf-life limiting components of the product, as well as the influence of the process on one or more quality attributes. The second element is the transport model needed to describe the distribution of preservation process intensities within the product. The integration of these models predicts the inactivation of the shelf-life limiting components and the retention of quality attributes during of the preservation process.

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