Food Preservation by Pulsed Electric Fields: From Research to Application

H.L.M. Lelieveld · S Notermans · S W H De Haan

Oct 2007 · Elsevier

About this ebook

Pulsed electric field (PEF) food processing is a novel, non-thermal preservation method that has the potential to produce foods with excellent sensory and nutritional quality and shelf-life. This important book reviews the current status of the technology, from research into product safety and technology development to issues associated with its commercial implementation.Introductory chapters provide an overview of the process and its history. Part one then discusses the technology of PEF food preservation, with chapters on circuitry and pulse shapes, chamber design and technical and safety requirements. The second part of the book focuses on important product safety and quality issues such as probable mechanisms of microbial inactivation by PEF, adaptation potential of microorganisms treated by this method, toxicological aspects, the impact on food enzymes and shelf life. Chapters in the final part of the book cover topics relating to the commercialisation of the technology, including current and future applications, pitfalls, economic issues and scaling up, and public and regulatory acceptance.Food preservation by pulsed electric fields is a standard reference for all those involved in research into PEF food processing and its commercialisation.

• Reviews the current status of PEF technology with an overview of the process and its history
• Discusses the technology involved in PEF food preservation
• Focuses on important product safety and quality issues such as the impact on food enzymes and shelf life

About the author

Prof. Dr. h.c. H.L.M. (Huub) Lelieveld is the Founder and President of the Global Harmonization Initiative and Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology. He is an editor or co-editor of numerous books, including several on hygiene and food safety management, novel food processing technologies, and harmonization of food safety regulations. He produced chapters for many books and encyclopedia, hundreds of scientific articles and articles for magazines, and presented hundreds of papers, globally. He has been awarded doctor honoris causa at the National University of Food Technologies in Kiev, Ukraine and is a leading expert in food safety.

Servé Notermans, an expert in microbial food safety, is currently Visiting Professor at the University of Central Lancashire, UK.

Sjoerd de Haan is Associate Professor in Power Electronics in the Electrical Power Processing Group, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.