ABSTRACT
Hurdle technology has emerged as the most successful method for gentle preservation of foods in last decades. Nowadays multiple-hurdle application has aimed at improving quality and safety of fruit products at the farm level and in the industry. This chapter attempts to structure available information on the current aspects of hurdle technology applied to fruit processing. The selection of stressors both in the growth and in the inactivation domain as well as the different dynamics of microorganisms during storage of fruit products preserved by hurdle technologies is discussed. Selected examples related to the use of the combined concept for improving quality of traditional fruit products and for designing new fresh-like fruit products are given. Finally, a Food Safety Technology approach based on a multi-disciplinary perspective to design hurdle technologies is suggested. This approach, connecting science with engineering components, will provide a systematized knowledge and a more consistent design of hurdle strategy.
