ABSTRACT
Over the past few decades the food industry has con-
stantly been looking for innovative products meeting
consumption trends. More recently, there has been a
growing consumer demand for fresh-like food, minimally
affected by the industrial production process, without
additives and particularly without preservatives.
Innovative is understood as new products, recipes, or
also the use of new and “innovative” production pro-
cesses. The most important underlying concept is that of
minimal processing that has developed much during
recent years. Nowadays, minimal processing is regarded
as the mildest possible preservation technique tailored to
a particular raw material or food. This includes the opti-
mization of not only traditional preservation methods
with respect to improved sensory quality and safety but
also new non-thermal preservation techniques, such as
high-pressure technology, the application of high electric
field pulses, mild heat treatments, sous-vide cooking,
postharvest technologies, and protective microbiological
treatments that are currently in use or under development.
Combining suitable methods and techniques often pro-
vides synergistic effects.[1]
