Abstract
The push for non-thermal food processing methods has emerged due to the challenges associated with thermal food processing methods, for instance, high operational costs and alteration of food nutrient components. Non-thermal food processing involves methods where the food materials receive microbiological inactivation without or with little direct application of heat. Besides being well established in scientific literature, research into non-thermal food processing technologies are constantly on the rise as applied to a wide range of food products. Due to such remarkable progress by scientists and researchers, there is need for continuous synthesis of relevant scientific literature for the benefit of all actors in the agro-food value chain, most importantly the food processors, and to supplement existing information. This review, therefore, aimed to provide a technological update on some selected non-thermal food processing methods specifically focused on their operational mechanisms, their effectiveness in preserving various kinds of foods, as revealed by their pros (merits) and cons (demerits). Specifically, pulsed electric field, pulsed light, ultraviolet radiation, high-pressure processing, non-thermal (cold) plasma, ozone treatment, ionizing radiation, and ultrasound were considered. What defines these techniques, their ability to exhibit limited changes in the sensory attributes of food, retain the food nutrient contents, ensure food safety, extend shelf-life, and being eco-friendly were highlighted. Rationalizing the process mechanisms about these specific non-thermal technologies alongside consumer education can help raise awareness prior to any design considerations, improvement of cost-effectiveness, and scaling-up their capacity for industrial-level applications.
Highlights
One of the major purposes of food processing technologies, from the very early to its later types over the years, has been to guarantee the safety of foodstuffs, as well as prolong their shelf-life
As a semi-neutrally ionized gas, cold plasma involves the combination of ions, electric field strength such that it exceeds the ionization potential to change its state to the UV photons, electrons, reactive species and charged elements [4,115,116,117]
Ozone is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) and approved as an antimicrobial agent of direct application to foods [13,101,164]
Summary
One of the major purposes of food processing technologies, from the very early to its later types over the years, has been to guarantee the safety of foodstuffs, as well as prolong their shelf-life. Largely combined with hurdle technology to replace those conventional thermal food processing ones, are increasingly viewed as either emerging, novel or new food processing methods [4,10] Such novel technologies have included pulse electric fields (PEF), high-pressure processing (HPP) [6], ozone treatment [11,12,13], pulsed light, nonthermal plasma/cold plasma (NTP) and ultrasound technology [14,15]. To compose this review paper, articles written in English and published between 2016 and 2021 (specific to those available 2021 as at the time of preparing this review) were retrieved from recognized scientific literature search engines (Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Knowledge and Google Scholar) using the key words “pulse electric field,” “pulsed light,” “ultraviolet light,” “high-pressure processing,” “non-thermal plasma,” “cold plasma,” “irradiation,” “ionizing irradiation,” and “ultrasound.” Other useful references have been added where deemed appropriate to strengthen the discussion of this synthesized update.
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