Abstract
UV-C treatment of food is a promising non-thermal processing technology to improve food safety and preservation. Most of the chemical constituents of food absorb UV-C light that can lead to chemical modifications and quality changes. This work investigated the effects of UV-C treatment of liquid egg products on lipid, protein oxidations and potential cyto- and genotoxic effects on intestinal epithelial cells in vitro. Egg preparations (egg white, yolk, liquid whole egg) were treated with UV-C (254nm, volumetric doses between 0 and 115,619JL−1) using a commercial UV-C processing unit equipped with a Dean Flow reactor. UV-C treatment at high doses (from 32,181JL−1, about 2 times higher than that needed to inactivate 5log of relevant microorganisms) showed an increased lipid oxidation in egg yolk and slight effects in liquid whole eggs; this was confirmed by slightly but not statistically significant increased peroxide values. UV-C induced also slight protein damage, characterised by the total sulfhydryl group reduction. These UV-C-induced oxidative modifications in egg preparations however did not cause any increase in the cyto- or genotoxic (DNA strand breaks) effects in intestinal Caco-2 cells.
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