Novel processing technologies to enhance starch functionality

Starch is a natural biopolymer widely used as a versatile industrial ingredient. However, although there is a broad application with different demands for starches, starch sources and, consequently, their properties, are limited by nature. Accordingly, this chapter discusses novel processing technologies to enhance starch functionality, achieving new properties and applications, and improving performance. We selected as the promising emerging technologies: ozone, ultrasound, high pressure processing, high homogenization processing, pulsed electric field, and cold plasma. Each technology has specific mechanisms of interaction with starch, resulting in different levels of structural modification (at granular and molecular levels) and functionalities. For each one, we present a brief description of the technology and its principles, a discussion about the main results when used for starch modification, some possible applications, limitations, and future perspectives. Although some techniques are more explored and ready for industrial implementation (e.g., ozonation), others still require more studies (e.g., pulsed electric field), including both their potential and scale-up. We also suggested further studies focusing on specific applications for the modified starches.