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Title: INACTIVATION OF MICROORGANISMS IN LIQUIDS BY HIGH ELECTRIC FIELDS

Author
item Geveke, David

Submitted to: Journal of the Association of Food and Drug Officials
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/26/2003
Publication Date: 1/1/2004
Citation: GEVEKE, D.J. INACTIVATION OF MICROORGANISMS IN LIQUIDS BY HIGH ELECTRIC FIELDS. JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION OF FOOD AND DRUG OFFICIALS. 2004. P. 48-51.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Heat pasteurization may detrimentally affect the quality of liquid food; hence, nonthermal pasteurization processes are actively being developed. This review describes nonthermal processes, involving high electric fields, that have gained widespread attention in the past decade. Recent research has documented that radio frequency and pulsed electric fields processing can kill microoganisms at relatively low temperatures. For example, radio frequency electric fields processing of apple juice, at 18 kV/cm and 50 C, resulted in a 3 log (99.9%)reduction of E. coli. High electric fields processes have also been shown to maximize the retention of fresh-like qualities when compared to traditional heat pasteurization. A summary of microbial inactivation results, nutrient and sensorial quality results, energy costs, and future prospects of these processes are presented.