Osmotic Dehydration of Foods in a Multicomponent Solution Part II. Water Loss and Solute Uptake in Agar Gels and Meat

The composition of a multicomponent aqueous solution containing sugars and salts was studied in order to lower solute uptake during osmotic dehydration of an agar gel. A diffusion cell was used to obtain the effective diffusivity and the main diffusion coefficient of each solute in the presence of the others. The main diffusion coefficients were then expressed as a function of thermodynamic and rheological properties of the solution. The decrease in effective diffusivities was mainly due to the increase in the viscosity of the solution. Addition of texturing agents which increased the viscosity of the solution confirmed this effect.