ABSTRACT
The main objective of food preservation processes is to
eliminate all pathogenic bacteria and to reduce and control
the presence of spoilage bacteria. Quality attributes such as
flavor, color, texture, and nutritive properties, however,
need to be preserved as well in order to maintain the overall
quality of the product. Some of the traditional food pre-
servation processes like pasteurization and canning
involve the use of heat to reduce the amount of bacteria
present in raw products. The application of heat, although
proven effective in controlling pathogenic and spoilage
bacteria, is also responsible for deterioration of other qual-
ity attributes such as color and nutritional value. The
constant search for better and more efficient technologies
to process and preserve foods has led to the development of
alternative preservation technologies. The idea behind
their development is to obtain safer products with longer
shelf life and improved sensory and nutritive quality char-
acteristics through processes of higher efficiency.
