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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Food Safety and Intervention Technologies Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #305927

Title: Applications of advanced intervention technologies to enhance microbial food safety

Author
item Sheen, Shiowshuh - Allen

Submitted to: US-Korea Bilaterial Symposium on Agricultural and Food Engineering
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/11/2014
Publication Date: 6/13/2014
Citation: Sheen, S. 2014. Applications of advanced intervention technologies to enhance microbial food safety. US-Korea Bilaterial Symposium on Agricultural and Food Engineering. Proceeding.PP:27:28.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Food safety issues may arise due to chemical and/or microbial contaminations. Foodborne pathogens typically are the major reasons in food related outbreaks that result in human sickness/death, product disposal/waste and other economic losses. The food industry is continuously seeking better intervention technologies to improve food qualities, reduce operation cost, and enhance food safety. The available technologies nowadays may be limited by the cost and new developments are mostly focusing on modifying the existing ones. High pressure (hydrostatic) processing (HPP), radiation, natural antimicrobial and packaging are some intervention means which may preserve the food quality and achieve microbial safety. The applications are food product dependent to satisfy the consumer demands and comply with government regulations. Nevertheless, the optimal objective is to deliver wholesome foods to consumers. Studies were conducted to examine microwave heating for treating catfish and HPP for strawberry puree (SP) with an aim to improve quality and safety. Results showed that feedback controlled microwave heating with sodium tripolyphosphates (STPP) addition in products achieved a 5-log cfu per gram reduction (Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella) and improved quality. HPP treatment at 350 MPa, for 5 min inactivated 5 log cfu per gram of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) on strawberry puree.