ABSTRACT
Pulsed electric field (PEF) processing is a non-thermal method used to maintain food safety and increase shelf life of foods by inactivating spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms. Many researchers have investigated this problem, including Sale and Hamilton (82, 83), Mizuno and Hori (64), Jayaram et al. (36), Qin et al. (75), and Pothakmury et al. (71). PEF processing is advantageous over other methods because the changes in product color, flavor, and nutritive value during the treatment are minimized (19, 40-42). A high intensity pulsed electric field processing involves the application of pulses of high voltage (typically 20-80 kV/cm) to foods placed between two electrodes. PEF treatment is conducted at ambient, sub-ambient, or slightly above ambient temperatures for less than 1 s, and energy loss due to heating of foods is minimized. For food quality attributes, PEF technology is considered superior to traditional heat treatment of foods because it avoids or greatly reduces the detrimental changes of the sensory and physical properties of foods (78). Although some studies have concluded that PEF preserves the nutritional components of foods, effects of PEF on the chemical and
nutritional aspects of foods must be better understood before PEF can be used in food processing (74).
