title: Supercritical fluids as alternative, safe, food-processing media: an overview.
abstract: The continuous growth of world population and its concentration in the urban areas require food supplies that are continuous, sufficient and of good quality. To resolve this problem techniques have been developed for increasing food quantity and quality. The techniques are applied throughout the food chain from production, conservation and during distribution to the consumers (from "the field to the fork"). During handling of food, chemicals are often deliberately added to achieve improved processing and better quality. This is one of the main reasons food undergoes different kinds of contamination. This overview focuses on the application of supercritical fluids as media for handling food materials during processing with the perspective of reducing chemical contamination of food. Examples of developmental applications of this technique and on research work in process are presented. Emphasis is given to extraction and biotransformation techniques.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pure and Applied Biochemistry Lund University, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden. jose.da_cruz_francisco@tbiokem.lth.se
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Da Cruz Francisco
authors.forename: Estera
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Szwajcer Dey
mesh_terms: D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry; D025924:Chromatography, Supercritical Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D005525:Food-Processing Industry; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide