Recent advances in the application of pulsed light processing for improving food safety and increasing shelf life

peer-reviewedBackground New technologies of non-thermal disinfection such as pulsed light (PL) have emerged lately as an alternative to traditional (thermal and chemical) disinfection and preservation methods. PL can be used to decontaminate a great variety of foods as well as to decontaminate contact surfaces, thus improving safety in foods and extending their shelf life. Moreover, this technology can prevent or reduce some of the detrimental effects of traditional methods on nutrients and bioactive compounds of food products. Scope and approach The combination of PL with other techniques such as ultraviolet light (UV), thermosonication (TS), pulsed electric fields (PEF), manothermosonication (MTS), etc., can improve the effectiveness of the decontamination process. Therefore, in this review, some of the most relevant studies evaluating the potential application of PL treatments to decontaminate food samples, and its impact of nutritional and physicochemical quality parameters will be discussed. Key findings and conclusions PL treatments are suitable for microbial decontamination in transparent drinks and for surface contaminated foods without complex microstructures. They also can be used for meat, fish and their by-products However, it is still necessary to evaluate the appropriate treatment conditions (number of light flashed, voltage, distance between sample and flash light, spectral range of light flashes and contamination) for each food and microorganism separately to improve the effectiveness and minimize the appearance of negative attributes reducing the quality of product as, in some cases, PL can have a negative effect on the photosensitive compounds and sensory characteristics of food products

Uticaj hladne plzme na mortalitet Tribolium castaneum u brašnu

Cold plasma is an emerging non thermal processing technology and is one of the novel promising methods for insect mortality. In order to study whether cold plasma could be suitable for control and to investigate the effect of plasma stress on mortality of Tribolium castaneum, three treatment variables were used: electrode gap (3 to 5cm), exposure time (1 to 5min) and applied voltage (1000 to 2500V). Mortality rate of an adult was examined after 24h of incubation at 35°C with twenty different treatment combinations as per CCD of RSM. Significant increase in mortality rate of an adult was observed with increase in applied voltage, exposure time and decrease in electrode distance. No significant color change was observed due to plasma exposure on Maida flour using L, a, b color values. This study will pave the way for an effective low temperature treatment technique in stored food product insect management.Hladna plazma je nova tehnologija hladne prerade koja utiče na uginuće insekata . U cilju ispitivanja pogodnosti hladne plazme za kontrolu Tribolium castaneum korišćena su tri varijabilna tretmana: zazor elektroda (3 do 5 cm), vreme izlaganja (1 do 5 min) i napon (1000 do 2500V) . Stopa smrtnosti je ispitivana nakon 24h inkubacije na 35°C sa dvadeset različitih kombinacija tretmana kao prema CCD od RSM. Značajno povećanje stope smrtnosti primećena je sa porastom napona, vremena izloženosti i smanjenja zazora elektroda. Nema značajne promene boje zbog izlaganja brašna plazmi. Ova studija će otvoriti put za efikasnu tehniku tretmana niskim temperaturama u skladištu prehrambenih proizvoda radi kontrole insekata