High Hydrostatic Pressure Processing at High Temperature: Impact on Quality Attributes and Future Outlook from Consumers’ Perspective

The feasibility of using high pressure processing (HPP) technology for food processing and preservation has been intensively explored at pressures up to 1200 MPa combined with temperatures from subzero to above 100°C. Current studies have shown that HPP processing can result in the unique characteristics of food produce with regards to avor, texture, color, food functionality, nutritional value, and sensorial properties (Oey et al., 2008; Knorr et al., 2011). Commercial applications of HPP technology at ambient temperature have been successfully demonstrated in a wide range of food products such as seafoods, avocado-based products, fruits and vegetables products, beverages, meat products, dairy products, ready-to-eat meals, and others. The pressure-temperature-time combinations currently used are targeted to achieve a process impact equivalent to that of thermal pasteurization, in other words, this processing condition cannot be used to inactivate spores.