The effect of pulsed electric fields (PEF) in combination with high intensity light pulses (HILP) on Escherichia coli inactivation and quality attributes in apple juice

Treatments involving pulsed electric fields (PEF) in combination with high intensity light pulses (HILP) were applied to reconstituted apple juice in a continuous system using a 2 × 4 factorial design, with sequence and energy levels as main factors. Two PEF field strengths (24 kV/cm or 34 kV/cm) were selected (treatment time 89 μs each) corresponding to "high" (H) and a "low" (L) energy inputs (261.9 and 130.5 J/ml, respectively). Juice was also pumped through a HILP system (pulse length 360 μs, frequency 3 Hz) and exposed to energy dosages of 5.1 J/cm² (H) or 4.0 J/cm ² (L) corresponding to 65.4 and 51.5 J/ml, respectively. Microbiological analysis was performed by inoculating juice with Escherichia coli K12 and counting microbial populations pre- and post-processing. Selected physical and chemical quality attributes were compared with those of unprocessed controls. A sensory evaluation was conducted using 31 untrained panellists and the products compared to thermally processed juice (94 °C for 26 s). With the exception of HILP (H) and PEF (L), all combinations achieved the minimum microbial reduction of 5 log units required by the FDA. The results obtained for PEF (L) followed by either HILP (L or H) suggest a synergistic effect on microbial inactivation. In general, the quality attributes were not affected by the chosen treatments and sensory evaluation revealed that the HILP(L)/PEF(L) combination was the most acceptable of the selected non-thermal treatments. Industrial Relevance: Heat remains the dominant microbial/enzyme inactivation technique though its impact on food quality is often at odds with increased consumer demand for minimally processed (MP) products. The reduction in intrinsic preservation in MP products raises new safety and stability risks and a major trend is the combination of inhibitory techniques to effectively preserve without the extreme use of a single technique (i.e. hurdle technology). PEF and HILP are emerging nonthermal/mild-heat technologies which have antimicrobial capabilities when applied alone or in combination with other physicochemical hurdles. Only a limited amount of work has focused on combinations of emerging technologies. As consumers have less reservations about physical (vs. chemical) preservation treatments, the objective of this paper is to assess if novel combinations of these emerging physical hurdles achieves the twin goals of food safety and quality in apple juice. This will involve assessing whether these combinations are effective vs. selected microorganisms un-/mildly heated products. In addition the nutritional/sensory quality of these MP products will be compared to untreated products.