Recent Developments in Non-thermal Processess - Food and Industrial Bioproducts and Bioprocessing - page 317

natural ingredients produced from microorganisms, plants and animals contain substances
with antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. To be used in food applications, these
antimicrobial agents of natural origin need to be recognized as GRAS (Generally Recognized
as Safe) and/or approved as food ingredients by the FDA.
13.3 FUTURE TRENDS
Because of the limitations of traditional thermal and non-thermal technologies, the future of
food preservation is moving towards a-la-carte processing that involves designing a specific
treatment for each type of food. The scientific community will continue to search for new
developments and applications of non-thermal technologies to fulfil the new challenges of
the twenty-first century with an emphasis on the environmental impact and sustainability of
these technologies, the use of non-thermal technologies to reduce food allergies, to produce
foods with natural ingredients, eliminate the use of potential carcinogenic additives, and
develop healthier and convenient foods for high risk population groups, such as the elderly,
children and the inmunocompromised consumers.
Despite all the efforts of the scientific community and equipment manufacturers to
develop non-thermal technologies, there are still some important points that need to be
addressed. The selection of the target microorganism as well as the non-pathogenic
surrogates for each technology is still limited. In addition, the mechanism of microbial
inactivation by non-thermal processing needs to be fully understood. Spores inactivation is
still a main limitation to the industrial application of most non-thermal technologies. It is
clear that new approaches have to be developed to reduce spore counts to a safe level.
Regulatory authorities also demand toxicological studies before considering non-thermal
technologies safe for the public.
In the last few years great advances have been achieved regarding the understanding of
the effects of non-thermal technologies on quality-deteriorative enzymes, sensory properties
and bioactive compounds in different food matrices. Many studies have shown the potential
to reduce enzyme activity while preserving the fresh-like characteristics of food. However,
despite the efforts, deeper scientific knowledge of the mechanism of non-thermal inactivation
of enzymes and their quality-related effects is still needed. It appears that non-thermal
technologies preserve most of the health beneficial phytochemicals. However, clinical and
in vivo studies on bioavailability of these compounds after non-thermal processing are still
limited. It is apparent that a large gap still exists among industry, the scientific community
and consumers. Effective communication strategies are needed to close this gap. Studies on
consumer acceptance and preference of non-thermal technologies would also help to steer
future research and development efforts.
It is the authors' belief that in the near future new industrial applications of non-thermal
technologies to produce healthy, fresh-like and natural foods in a sustainable manner will
become common in the market place.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to thank Dr Dave Geveke of the USDA Eastern Regional Research Center
for helping in the reviewing process of this manuscript.