Effects on Escherichia coli inactivation and quality attributes in apple juice treated by combinations of pulsed light and thermosonication

Pulsed light (PL) and Thermosonication (TS) were applied alone or in combination using a continuous system to study their effect on Escherichia coli inactivation in apple juice. Selected quality attributes (pH, °Brix, colour (L, a, b, δE), non-enzymatic browning (NEBI) and antioxidant activity (TEAC)) were also evaluated pre- and post-processing. Two PL (360μs, 3Hz) treatments were selected and the juice exposed to energy dosages of 4.03J/cm ² ('low' (L)) and 5.1J/cm ² ('high' (H)) corresponding to 51.5 and 65.4J/mL, respectively. The juice was also processed by TS (24kHz, 100μm) at 40°C for 2.9min (L) or 50°C for 5min (H), corresponding to 1456 and 2531J/ml energy inputs, respectively. The effect of the resulting four energy levels and sequence (PL+TS and TS+PL) was studied. When the technologies were applied individually the maximum reduction achieved was 2.7 and 4.9logCFU/mL (for TS (H) and PL (H) respectively), while most of the combined treatments achieved reductions in the vicinity of 6logCFU/mL, showing an additive effect for both technologies when acting in combination, regardless of the sequence applied. All treatments significantly changed the colour of apple juice and the sequence in which the technologies were applied affected colour significantly (P<0.05). The energy level applied did not affect any of the measured quality attributes.