Preservation of Foods with Pulsed Electric Fields
Traditionally, food processors have relied on heat for sterilization and preservation. This method, however, has several disadvantages - one of the most significant being the adverse effect on food texture. Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) has emerged as an attractive alternative to thermal methods and is of interest to those working in engineering, processing, food safety and sensory analysis. Processing foods with high intensity PEF is a new technology, to deactivate micro-organisms with only a small increase in food temperature. This book is intended as a source of information on this subject. Included are: the fundamentals of high intensity pulsed electric fields; design of PEF processing equipment; biological principles for microbial inactivation in electric fields; PEF-induced biological charges; PEF inactivation of vegetable cells, spores, and enzymes in foods; food processing by PEF; and HACCP in PEF processing.