High pressure processing of raw meat with essential oils-microbial survival, meat quality, and models: A review

Abstract

High pressure processing (HPP) is one of the most successful nonthermal technique adopted by the meat industry. Raw beef and poultry meat commercially produced using HPP are processed at intense pressure levels for microbiological safety purposes, which, however, have been associated with impact on quality attributes, e.g., texture, appearance/color, and oxidation of proteins and lipids. Research over the last decade has shown that HPP may be operated at mild settings without compromising bacterial inactivation when combined with plant-origin essential oils (EOs). This review discusses 1) the effects and the underlying mechanisms of HPP on bacterial inactivation and on meat quality, 2) the antimicrobial activities of individual or mixed EOs when combined with HPP, and 3) the development of statistical models for foodborne pathogen reduction using HPP involving multiple parameters, e.g., pressure level, holding time, temperature, concentrations of antimicrobial agents, etc.; which may assist in process optimization of HPP-based hurdle technologies.