Potential processing methods for safer convenience foods

ABOUT 75 percent of the new diseases that have affected humans over the past 10 years have developed from animals or products of animal origin. Diseases originate from Campylobacteriosis usually found in raw milk and undercooked poultry, Salmonella from eggs, and Listeriosis which may originate from dairy products, fruits and vegetables and seafood, may cause infection.

According to Marta Hugas, head of the Biological Hazards and Contaminants Unit, Europe Food Safety Authority (EFSA), food trade through globalization and the movement of people has also carried along with it chemical and biological hazards.

Besides globalization, the demand for more variety of food to be available all year round is another contributing factor. The demand for fresh convenient foods that have been processed minimally, draws away attention from traditional techniques effective in keeping food safe like freezing, canning and chemical preservatives since these processes may also affect taste and quality.

Potential processing methods

Researchers are now looking to develop processing techniques that could address this demand as well as those that could meet the shelf life required by far export markets. The idea is to increase the safety of products while also maintaining a level of freshness desired by consumers.

Geraldine Duffy, researcher at the Head Food Safety Department of the Teagasc Food Research Centre in Dublin, Ireland is involved in a project called HIPSTER, which hopes to validate and implement a food processing technology combining High Pressure Processing (HPP) with Temperature (HPT).

“We are testing its efficacy on prepared meals with extended shelf life, including soups and ready-to-eat meals that contain chicken and fish. If the HPT technology works, it could be applied to other foodstuffs in the future,” she said.

The High Hydrostatic Pressure on its own inactivates vegetative bacteria on the food, but not the spores that could make it unsafe or lead to spoilage.

Ongoing tests are being conducted to find out if food product subjected to high pressure treatment in combination with temperatures of about 90 degrees Celsius, will render the spores inactive but maintain quality, safety and taste as well as long shelf life.

Monitoring process

For the project i3Food, scientists are developing three technologies: pulsed electric field preservation (PEF-P) of liquid food products, like fruit juices and smoothies; high pressure thermal sterilization (HPTS) for ready-to-eat-meals; low shear extrusion of cold food products, mainly ice cream.

“We need sensors to control and monitor the whole process from the beginning in order to avoid an effect of over processing, which could cause quality losses in the food product afterwards,” said Stefan Töpfl, food technologist at the German Institute Food Technologies (DIL).

Mr Töpfl says that these techniques will reduce damage to the product by avoiding excess treatment intensity and energy use at every stage of processing.  

“I think in Europe we have a high level of food safety, but we now face the challenge of finding a variety of preservation techniques to maintain this level while at the same time increasing the quality of the product in terms of consumer demands,” he said.

Consumers want to be able to obtain food whenever they like, whatever the season, but expect it to be fresh and free from chemical additives. This is something of a contradictory, according to Ms Duffy.

The new food processing techniques try to extend shelf life, improve taste and texture of food. But at the end of the day, they will all be adapted, if only for safety reasons.

Source: http://www.youris.com