ABSTRACT
Vegetables, fruits, legumes, and several sources of natural products are foods recognized by their phytochemical composition associated with the reduced risk of chronic diseases, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and aging degenerative diseases. In order to extend the shelf life and to provide consumer-convenient products, different types of food processing technologies must be applied; from simple freezing to thermal processes, biotransformation by fermentation or emerging technologies such as pulsed electric fields, high hydrostatic pressure, and others. Processing food products may cause chemical compositional changes capable of affecting their properties and biological activities. Conventional thermal processes help to increase shelf life; however, this has a major impact on the phenolic composition and thus on its known antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities. It is also expected that fermentation processes contribute to transformation of bioactive compounds. Therefore, choosing the appropriate technological process is highly relevant in order to retain the phytochemicals with biological activity or encourage transformation for a better functional and nutraceutical response.
