ABSTRACT
For health reasons, people are consuming foods with or without minimal processing, thereby, exposing themselves to the risk of foodborne illness if such foods are contaminated with bacteria. Food manufacturers and researchers are responding to consumers’ demand for fresh food that are safe by proposing and developing nonthermal process intervention treatments that can keep food fresh or near fresh without altering the sensorial characteristic. In this chapter, the effi cacy of high hydrostatic pressure, antimicrobials, radio frequency electric fi eld and pulse electric fi eld, pulsed ultraviolet light, and ultrasonic treatment on bacterial injury, leakage of intracellular
bacterial substances leading to inactivation is evaluated. The information presented in this chapter will expand the knowledge base regarding processing variables associated with these non-thermal technologies in achieving optimum effi cacy for bacterial inactivation in food while maintaining quality attributes of heat sensitive foods.
