The aim of this work was to experimentally determine drying curves for thin layer and bed drying of rosehip fruits, with and without pretreatments, to reduce processing times as a function of drying air operating variables, to propose dehydration kinetics of fruits and to determine its kinetic parameters for further use within drying simulation software. Fruits were pre-treated both chemically and mechanically, which included dipping the fruits in NaOH and ethyl oleate solutions; and cutting or perforating the fruit cuticle, respectively. Simulation models were then adopted to fit the kinetics drying data considering fruit volume shrinkage. These simple models minimized the calculation time during the simulation of deep-bed driers. Results show that pre-treatments reduced processing times up to 57%, and evaluated models satisfactorily predicted the drying of rosehip fruit. Effective mass diffusion coefficients were up to 4-fold greater when fruit was submitted to mechanical pretreatments.

The effects of organic material and biofilm formation on the efficacy of Suma Tab D4 chlorine tablets and Suma Bac D10 quaternary ammonium compound (QAC) against Listeria monocytogenes was determined in suspension and on stainless steel and polystyrene surfaces according to standard disinfectant test methodology. Exposure to 200 and 740 mg L-1 QAC and to 150 mg L-1 active chlorine resulted in a > 5.0 log10 CFU mL-1 and > 5.0 log10 CFU/coupon reduction of six L. monocytogenes strains within one minute, in suspension tests, and on stainless steel surfaces, respectively. Additionally, there was a reduction by as much as 5 log10 CFU/coupon or 5 log10 CFU/well of reference strains EGDe and Scott A biofilms within five minutes on stainless steel and polystyrene surfaces. Organic material, added as bovine serum albumin at 0.3% (w/v) completely prevented the inactivation of L. monocytogenes in 150 mg L-1 chlorine, while reductions of only 0.6 +- 0.1 log10 CFU mL-1 were recorded in the presence of UHT milk at 3% (v/v). In contrast, reductions of 5 log10 CFU mL-1 were recorded within one minute on exposure to 740 mg L-1 QAC in the presence of 0.3% (w/v) bovine serum albumin and within two minutes in the presence of 20 % (v/v) UHT milk. Although Suma D4 chlorine tablets and Suma Bac D10 QAC are effective listericidal agents at recommended concentrations, Suma Tab D4 chlorine efficacy against L. monocytogenes is impaired by the presence of low concentrations of organic material, while Suma Bac D10 QAC maintains its listericidal activity in high organic loads.

Wine contains natural antioxidants such as phenolic compounds also known as bioactive compounds. Samples of commercially available Greek wines were analyzed in order to determine this phenolic content. For the analysis, Reversed Phase-High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC) coupled with a multiwavelength Ultraviolet/visible (UV/vis) detector was used. The most abundant phenolic substances detected were (+)-catechin (13.5-72.4 mg L-1 ), gallic acid (0.40-99.47 mg L-1) and caffeic acid (0.87-33.48 mg L-1). The principal component analysis (PCA) technique was used to study differentiation among wines according to their production area. Red wines contained more phenolic substances than white ones. Differences of the phenolic composition in wines of the same cultivar were investigated too.

Olive mill wastes are signicant environmental problem especially in Mediterranean areas where they are generated in huge quantities in a short period of time. They are phytotoxic materials because of their high phenol, lipid and organic acid concentrations, but these wastes also contain valuable resources that could be recycled such as a large proportion of organic matter and a wide range of nutrients. The effluent from olive oil mills contains a large amount of polyphenols that have antioxidant properties. The market value of these antioxidants is high and they are commonly used in the food, cosmetics, pharmaceutics and chemical industries. For the management of olive mill wastewater (OMW) and other olive residues, various treatment methods can be used. Many scientists work on more efficient and cheaper treatment alternatives. Due to the great variety of compounds in the waste, several technologies to remove the harmful compounds for the environment should be used single or together. Some of the most used OMW treatments are drying / evaporation, forced evaporation, thermal treatment, centrifugation-ultraltration, electrocoagulation, composting, lagooning, adsorption, powdered activated carbon, filtration, sand filtration, membrane filtration, ultrafiltration, precipitation / flocculation, distillation, electrolysis, co-composting, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) such as ozonation, hydrogen peroxide / ferrous iron oxidation (the so-called Fentons reagent). Several OMW treatment technologies have been developed aiming at the removal of the main toxic organic compounds. A lot of factors must be considered to choose the treatment methods among them the investment, required area, specic training of the workers, noise and odour emissions and seasonality of production.