Handbook of Drying of Vegetables and Vegetable Products

This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the processes and technologies in drying of vegetables and vegetable products. The Handbook of Drying of Vegetables and Vegetable Products discusses various technologies such as hot airflow drying, freeze drying, solar drying, microwave drying, radio frequency drying, infrared radiation drying, ultrasound assisted drying, and smart drying. The book’s chapters are clustered around major themes including drying processes and technologies, drying of specific vegetable products, properties during vegetable drying, and modeling, measurements, packaging & safety.

Specifically, the book covers drying of different parts and types of vegetables such as mushrooms and herbs; changes to the properties of pigments, nutrients, and texture during drying process; dried products storage; nondestructive measurement and monitoring of moisture and morphological changes during vegetable drying; novel packaging; and computational fluid dynamics.

Min Zhang performed two periods of postdoctoral research from 1992 to 1997. He is  currently  the  key  professor  and  PhD  supervisor  in  the  School  of  Food  Science  and  Technology,  Jiangnan  University.  He  is  the  director  of  R&D,  Center  of  Food  Resource  and  Utilization  Technology  in  Jiangnan  University.  His  research  areas  focus  on  the  mechanism,  technology,  and  engineering  of  processing  and  storingfresh foods.Professor Zhang has been approved as a master’s supervisor and has supervised 105 master ’s students (of whom 96 graduated) since 1998. Since 2000, he has beenapproved as a PhD supervisor and has supervised 42 PhDs (of whom 31 graduated). Professor Zhang began to supervise postdoctoral researchers in 2004 and has super-vised  6  postdocs.  In  2003  and  2005,  he  was  listed  in  Who’s Who in Science and  Engineering.  In  2004,  he  was  listed  in  the  first  batch  of  the  National  Personnel  Training Project of the New Century Bai-Qian-Wan Project. In 2006, he was listed as  a National  Expert  and  was  entitled  to  special  government  allowances.  In  2005,  he  was  invited  as  the  scientic  adviser  in  the food  science  by  the International Foundation for Science (IFS). From 2007, he has been listed as early or late listed as the editorial member of three SCI journals (Journal of Food Engineering, IF2.576; D r yi ng Tech n olog y, IF1.77; International Agrophysics, IF 1.142) and several domes-tic journals, such as Journal of Food Science and Biotechnology, Journal of Food Safety and Food Quality,and Drying Technology and Equipment. In August 2013, he was appointed as an honorary professor in the eld of food science by the University of Queensland, Australia.In  recent  years,  Professor  Zhang  has  actively  promoted  the  industrialization  of  new  quality  control  technology  in  fresh  food  processing  and  preservation  and  has  established  a  longtime  collaboration  mechanism  of  Industry-Academia-Research  (joint research institute) with more than 10 large- and medium-sized domestic and foreign  food  or  equipment  companies  like  Haitong  Food  Group  Co.  Ltd.,  PepsiCo  Food  Co.,  and Jiahao Food  Co.,  which  created  obvious  economic  benets  for  the  enterprise.Professor  Zhanghas  published  26  monographs  or  translated  books  in  national  presses and 10 English book chapters, edited one international conference proceed-ings (English edition), and coedited one English academic book. He has published more  than  240  SCI  international  journal  papers  as  a  corresponding  author.  About 116 applied invention patents from his group (with him as the main inventor) have already been authorized by the Chinese National Intellectual Property Bureau. He has also applied for 11 international patents, including patents from Germany, Japan, France, South Korea, and Switzerland. He was recognized as the fth of the top ten outstanding patent inventors in Jiangsu Province (China) in 2012. The projects carried out by Professor Zhang have been granted more than 10 awards by government and professional associations, including an award from the national government (second prize for the National Scientic and Technological Progress Awa rd, 2012), an award from the government of Jiangsu Province (rst prize for the Province Scientic and Technological  Progress  Awa rd,  2009),  two  awards  from  China  General  Chamber  of  Commerce  (rst  prize  for  the National  Commerce  Scientic  and  Technological  Progress Award, 2009, 2011), an award from China National Light Industry Council (rst prize for the National Light Industry Scientic and Technological Progress Awa rd, 2007), and an award from China National Food Industry Association (rst prize for the National Food Industry Scientic and Technological Progress Awa rd, 2011).

Bhesh  Bhandari has been associated with the University of Queensland for more than 22  years.  His  research  is  mainly  focused  on  food  materials  science,  includ-ing  microencapsulation  of  food  ingredients  and  glass  transition–related  issues  in  food  processing  and  product  systems.  Various  microencapsulation  processes, such as spray drying, molecular encapsulation, cocrystallization,  precipitation,  and gel entrapment, have been investigated by his research team. Professor Bhandari’s cur-rent research focus has been to relate the nanostructure of food systems to their bulk properties. He has developed a continuous method to produce microgel particles that can be used to encapsulate various functional ingredients and pharmaceutical drugs. He  has  performed  a  number  of  pioneering  studies  on  the stickiness  issues  of  food  powders encountered during drying and handling. Recently, he developed a patented technique to produce an ethylene powder that can be used for fruit ripening as well as control of other physiological functions in plants. Professor Bhandari has authored more than 200 papers, including 30 book chapters. He has coedited Food Materials Science  and  Engineering  and  Handbook  of  Food  Powders,  which have  been  pub-lished recently. Professor Bhandari is an editor of The Journal of Food Engineering.

Zhongxiang Fang earned bachelor (1993) and MPhil (2003) degrees in agricultural processing and storage engineering at the China Agricultural University and a PhD (2007) in food science at Jiangnan University, China. He was a lecturer at Zhejiang University,  China,  from  2007  to  2009  and  moved  to  Australia  in  2009  as  a  post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Queensland. Dr. Fang was appointed as a Curtin Research Fellow in the Food Science and Technology Program, School of  Public  Health,  Curtin  University,  in  2012.  From  2016,  he  worked  as  a  lecturer  in  food  processing  in  the  Faculty  of  Veterinary  and  Agricultural  Sciences,  The  University of Melbourne.  Dr. Fang has secured research funding of about 1.7 million AUD, published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, and has 9 patents. He has (co-)supervised six PhD students and ten m a s t e r ’s students. He has served as a reviewer for  major  journals  in  associated  elds.  His  research  interests  include  the effect  of  climate, environment, and food processing technology on food quality and safety; antioxidant activity and metabolism of plant polyphenols; food processing technol-ogy and food engineering; and encapsulation of food bioactives and bioactive lms in food coating and packaging.