Abstract: Dragon fruit (Hylocereus spp.) is one of the most favorite tropical crops in the food processing industry worldwide, due to its vibrant appearance, sweet flavor, and nutritional profile rich in dietary fiber, vitamins, antioxidants, and natural pigments. The cultivation area has expanded to over 700,000 acres by 2021, thereby yielding more than 1.6 million tons annually in China. Yet the low utilization is only approximately 8% after processing. Separation techniques are often required for the product quality in juices, purees, jams, and wines. Conventional mechanical processing, such as roller extrusion or screw pressing, has frequently caused high pulp residue, peel fragmentation, pigment migration, and microbial contamination, leading to low juice yield, purity degradation, sensory defects, and elevated sanitation costs. Manual extraction can also induce high labor intensity, inconsistency, and hygiene risks. In this study, the high-pressure gas jet was introduced for the non-contact peel-pulp separation, in order to enhance the value-added applications, including the peel-derived red betacyanin pigments for the food colorants. Process parameters were also optimized to minimize the fruit damage for high efficiency. According to fluid mechanics, a jet impact force model was formulated to incorporate the velocity derived from pressure differentials via Bernoulli's equation, the impact force as the momentum flux proportional to the jet area and velocity squared, shear stress at the interface influenced by dynamic viscosity and velocity gradient, and exponential decay with the standoff distance to account for jet attenuation. Key factors were also identified, including the jet pressure (P), standoff distance (H), and nozzle diameter (d). The results revealed that the increasing P enhanced the momentum, the d induced the intensity bidirectionally, and the H induced the decay and diffusion. The normal stress and tangential shear were collectively modulated for the effective detachment without rupture. Single-factor experiments showed that there were the trends of the five levels: The jet pressure from 0.3 to 0.7 MPa exhibited the rising pulp removal rates peaking at 0.6 MPa with 90.31% efficiency, but declining sensory scores beyond, due to the excessive force inducing tears; The standoff distance from 10 to 50 mm shared the optimal balance at 30 mm, thus yielding 88.13% removal and 4.40 sensory score. The shorter distances risked the fragmentation, while the longer ones reduced the impact. The nozzle diameter from 1 to 5 mm was maximized at 4 mm with 88.57% removal and 4.36 score, in order to avoid the insufficient coverage at smaller sizes or diluted force at larger ones. A Box-Behnken response surface method facilitated the multifactor optimization. Three levels per parameter were employed to generate 17 experimental runs. Pulp removal rate (Y1) and sensory score (Y2, assessed via a 5-point hedonic scale for the pulp integrity, peel wholeness, residue, and color) were served as the responses. The quadratic polynomial regression was obtained with the high coefficients of determination (R²=0.9822 for Y1, 0.9991 for Y2). Analysis of variance highlighted that the most significant influencing factors on the model accuracy were ranked in descending order of the nozzle diameter, standoff distance, and jet pressure. Particularly, there was a great correlation between standoff distance and nozzle diameter, indicating the nonlinear separation. Multi-objective optimization determined the optimal conditions: the jet pressure 0.6 MPa, standoff distance 30 mm, nozzle diameter 4 mm, predicting 90.67% pulp removal and 4.55 sensory score. Verification trials were achieved in the 90.46% removal and 4.51 score, with the discrepancies under 1%, indicating the high prediction accuracy. Single-factor ANOVA further validated the individual factor significance (P <0.001 across all). Response surface method showed that the apparent main effect discrepancies were attributed to interactive couplings prevalent in soft tissue processing. Material properties of the dragon fruit were determined—high moisture content (85-90%), viscoelastic pulp with elastic modulus around 0.5-1.0 MPa, thin elastic peel (2.8 mm thick), and curved geometry. Separation mechanisms were then obtained that: the gas jets induced the mixed-mode fracture (Mode I opening via normal impact, Mode II shear along interface) to overcome the pectin-mediated adhesion (threshold ~0.1-0.3 N/mm²) without inducing tears or pigment bleed. Recent advances were found in the non-thermal technologies, such as the pulsed electric fields for the peel integrity preservation and ultrasonication for the enhanced extraction efficiency in dragon fruit juices, indicating the eco-friendly alternatives to retain the bioactive compounds for the low energy consumption. The optimal non-contact process can elevate the pulp recovery and sensory attributes. The finding can also provide strong support for the flexible machinery and full-value utilization of the fruits and vegetables in sustainable food processing.