ABSTRACT
The increasing demand for fresh-like and high-value health-promoting foods has encouraged the industries, and consequently the research eld, to investigate new emerging food processes that are able to assure safety but also functionality. In this perspective, much attention has been focused on a number of new technologies. In particular, pulsed electric eld (PEF), high hydrostatic pressure (HHP), highpressure homogenization (HPH), ultrasounds, oscillating magnetic elds, and high-intensity light pulses have emerged as processing strategies alternative to the conventional thermal treatments for microbial decontamination (Knorr 1999; Lado and Yousef 2002; Senorans et al. 2003; Shah 2007; Wan et al. 2009). In addition to their antimicrobial potential, some of these technologies have demonstrated good features to be exploited in the functional eld. In fact, PEF, HHP, and HPH have been studied for the production of functional and probiotic foods in the dairy and beverage sectors (Cueva 2009; Penna et al. 2007; Shah et al. 2008; Sheehan et al. 2007).
