Advancements in nonthermal physical field technologies for prefabricated aquatic food: A comprehensive review

Aquatic foods are nutritious, enjoyable, and highly favored by consumers. In recent years, young consumers have shown a preference for prefabricated food due to its convenience, nutritional value, safety, and increasing market share. However, aquatic foods are prone to microbial spoilage due to their high moisture content, protein content, and unsaturated fatty acids. Furthermore, traditional processing methods of aquatic foods can lead to issues such as protein denaturation, lipid peroxidation, and other food safety and nutritional health problems. Therefore, there is a growing interest in exploring new technologies that can achieve a balance between antimicrobial efficiency and food quality. This review examines the mechanisms of cold plasma, high-pressure processing, photodynamic inactivation, pulsed electric field treatment, and ultraviolet irradiation. It also summarizes the research progress in nonthermal physical field technologies and their application combined with other technologies in prefabricated aquatic food. Additionally, the review discusses the current trends and developments in the field of prefabricated aquatic foods. The aim of this paper is to provide a theoretical basis for the development of new technologies and their implementation in the industrial production of prefabricated aquatic food.

Evaluation of Ultra-High-Pressure Sterilization in Terms of Bactericidal Effect, Qualities, and Shelf Life of 'Xinli No. 7' (Pyrus sinkiangensis) Pear Juice

In this study, ultra-high-pressure sterilization (UHPS) of Xinli No. 7 juice (XL7) was explored and optimized. A challenge to implement UHPS in juice as a full alternative to thermal treatment could be represented by the adoption of a pressure level of up to 500 MPa for 20 min at one cycle followed by the packaging in aseptic conditions. It was found that UHPS and HS treatments could effectively kill the microorganisms in XL7 juice but HS treatment would inevitably lose the nutritional quality in the juice, while UHPS treatment could better maintain the glyconic acid content, functional components, and antioxidant activity and reduce Browning degree and improve the stability of XL7 juice. The deterioration rate of UHPS and HS-treated XL7 juice increased with the increased storage temperature. The predicted shelf life of UHPS and HS-treated XL7 juice was 68 and 41 days at 4 °C, respectively. Collectively, UHPS treatment combined with low-temperature storage might be an effective way to prolong the shelf life of XL7 juice.

Comparison of high pressure and thermal pasteurization on the quality parameters of strawberry products: a review

Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) is rich in bioactive compounds with high antioxidant activity. High pressure processing (HPP) is an efficient alternative to preserve these bioactive compounds in terms of microbial inactivation and shelf-life stability. This review compares the effects of pasteurization methods using high pressure or thermal pasteurization (TP) on the quality parameters of various strawberry-based products. To summarize, most of the high pressure-treated products are microbiologically stable and showed minimum degradation of thermolabile compounds than TP-treated ones. However, some studies reported that high pressure did not have an advantage over TP especially in the preservation of phenolic phytochemicals during storage. The insufficient enzyme inactivation and high residual activity of enzymes after high pressure treatment could cause anthocyanins degradation thus affecting the product quality. Overall, this review could be valuable to potential processors in evaluating the effective commercialization of high pressure-treated strawberry products.