Emerging Technologies for Food Processing, 2nd Edition

7.10. Conclusions

PEF has succeeded in capturing the interest of food scientists in academia and industry during the last two decades, as is indicated by a steadily increasing amount of PEF research activity over that period of time, as well as the emergence of commercial PEF systems. Its efficacy as a nonthermal technique for food preservation has been demonstrated by the treatment effects on a wide range of fluid foods and beverages. The microbial inactivation rates achieved have mostly ranged between appreciable (1–3 log cycle reduction in counts) and highly effective (>6 log cycles). When the PEF impact was marginal (0 1 log cycle), its efficacy could be improved by combination with other processing hurdles, such as moderate heat, antimicrobials, ...