Pulsed electric field treatment for beverage production and preservation

Abstract

Processing of foods by thermal processing with the main objective of shelf life extension and safety may bring some disadvantages on physical or sensory properties as well as compounds classified as functional. Alternatives such as pulsed electric fields (PEF) with minimization of undesirable changes for food processing to produce foods with better quality are on demand. The main advantage of PEF technology comes with its mode of application that it is practiced at ambient, above, or below ambient temperature which minimize changes in physical properties of foods. When electric field current is applied to food samples, it is transmitted through the food by the presence of ions; thus, food should have certain amount of ions for PEF processing. In this respect-due to the presence of the hydrogen ions-fruit juices are one of the most suitable food products to be processed by PEF. Different juices have successfully processed by PEF for the safety and shelf life extension, but more studies are needed to prove that PEF is equivalent or superior to heat treatment for fruit processing. Therefore, there is a need to have a comprehensive review for the PEF applications on beverage processing to determine the potential of the technology for beverage production and preservation.