Emerging technologies

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  Cold plasma

  Cold plasma is not yet realised for the food industry but this technology offers potential applications that could have significant benefits. The most noticeable application is the disinfection of surfaces in particular equipment, packaging, food contact surfaces or even food itself.
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  High pressure processing (HPP)

  High pressure processing, as currently used commercially, is a non-thermal pasteurisation process in which a food is subjected to pressures of about 150 to 700 MPa (1500 to 7000 bar) for a given period of time. Pressure generation is mechanical, through a fluid (water), which is consequently transmitted to the product.
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  Pasteurisation of dry foods

  Traditional thermal methods are not designed for sanitation of dry (low aw) foods due to the increase in moisture content required and alterations in the quality of the products. In recent years new commercial technologies have been developed for processing dry foods.
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  Power ultrasound

  Power ultrasound (typically in the range of 20kHz to 100kHz) has numerous non-preservation applications such as cutting, cleaning, emulsifying, de-gassing and foam breaking. It is not thought to be currently in use for microbiological inactivation in food production but there is evidence at laboratory scale demonstrating anti-microbial effects.
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  Intensity pulsed light

  Pulsed light is a surface preservation method in which a material is subjected to very short pulses (of the order of milliseconds) of broad-spectrum white light. The spectrum of light is typically between 200 and 1100 nm and includes UV, visible and infrared components. The product is typically exposed to 1-20 pulses having an energy density in the range of 0.01 – 50 J.cm–2 at the surface.
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  Ultraviolet technology – UV light treatment

  UV light treatment is a non-thermal, non–chemical technology to inactivate microorganisms, which has been used to disinfect water/air systems and for surface decontamination (packaging/work surface) for many years. UV light is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and lies in the range between 100 – 400 nm.
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