THE USE OF DIC TECHNOLOGY (INSTANT CONTROLLED PRESSURE DROP) IN FRUIT DESHYDRATATION

Over time, many methods of preserving fruit by drying/dehydration applied at the industrial level (convection, microwave, high frequency currents, infrared radiation, lyophilisation, etc.) have been discovered and perfected to improve the quality of dehydrated products as well as their resistance to storage. The application of many of them is quite expensive, the parameters of the drying process (processing time and energy consumption) having high values. Technological progress in this field involves the development of new dehydration techniques, optimizing existing ones or combining them, aiming to increase energy efficiency, obtain healthy products with high rehydration capacity, reduce costs and negative impact on the environment. The paper presents a brief summary of the basic principles of the DIC (Instant Controlled Pressure Drop) process, as well as the advantages of its uses in industrial fruit dehydration technologies or as pre-treatment.