Applications and opportunities for ultrasound assisted extraction in the food industry - A review

Ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) process enhancement for food and allied industries are reported in this review. This includes herbal, oil, protein and bioactives from plant and animal materials (e.g. polyphenolics, anthocyanins, aromatic compounds, polysaccharides and functional compounds) with increased yield of extracted components, increased rate of extraction, achieving reduction in extraction time and higher processing throughput. Ultrasound can enhance existing extraction processes and enable new commercial extraction opportunities and processes. New UAE processing approaches have been proposed, including, (a) the potential for modification of plant cell material to provide improved bioavailability of micro-nutrients while retaining the natural-like quality, (b) simultaneous extraction and encapsulation, (c) quenching of the radical sonochemistry especially in aqueous systems to avoid degradation of bioactives and (d) potential use of the radical sonochemistry to achieve targeted hydroxylation of polyphenolics and carotenoids to increase bioactivity. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.