Application of ohmic heating for the inactivation of microbiological hazards in food products

Abstract

Ohmic heating has long been used to inactivate pathogens in food products. Several research investigations on the use of ohmic heating technology in the inactivation of microbial hazards in food products are discussed in this review. These studies are discussed under the following sub-headings: (a) inactivation of microbiological hazards, (b) in combination treatments with other sanitizing technologies, and (c) mathematical modeling, all of which are of long-standing interest. In this review, we evaluate ohmic heating as a rapid and volumetric heating process that inactivates microbiological hazards in food products. We also examine ohmic heating-based combination treatments as promising methods to maximize microbial inactivation efficacy and minimize the quality deterioration of food products. We first highlight the fact that most researchers had an interest in the inactivation of vegetative pathogens, whereas only a few focused on the inactivation of bacterial spores. In general, significantly higher treatment conditions were needed to inactivate bacterial spores (>95 C) than vegetative pathogens (>50 C). Studies on the inactivation of viral pathogens by ohmic heating are limited, and further research is needed in this field. In the first part of this review, the nonthermal effects of ohmic heating are also discussed, which is a popular topic in the food industry. Cumulatively, research suggests that that these nonthermal effects are dependent on the treatment conditions and the electrical conductivity of different food samples. Therefore, we suggest that focus should be on the thermal rather than the nonthermal effects of ohmic heating when considering the application of this technology to inactivate pathogens. Finally, we introduced combination technology based on ohmic heating and mathematical modeling, which are of interest recently. 1 | INTRODUCTION Food safety remains a major concern worldwide. The globalization and expansion of international trade increase the spread and risks of foodborne outbreaks (Fung, Wang, & Menon, 2018). Moreover, changes in technology, society, climate, and the pathogens themselves also contribute to the development and maintenance of foodborne illnesses (Cohen, 2000). According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC, 2010)~3,000 Americans die from foodborne illness each year. Many hazardous agents can cause these illness, but pathogens are still the major causative agents. Foodborne pathogens can be classified into vegetative pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella Typhimurium, and Listeria monocytogenes (Min et al., 2016), spore-forming pathogens such as Bacillus and Clostridium spores (Jo et al., 2019), and viruses such as the Norovirus (NoV) that are associated with winter illnesses (Park et al., 2016). Resistance of these pathogens would change resulting from climate change, antibiotics usage, and natural mutations, which are of great concern to food safety (S.-S. Kim, Lee, et al., 2019; Lee, Kim, & Kang, 2019). Some spoilage mi...

Effect of Ohmic Heating on Food Products: An In-Depth Review Approach Associated with Quality Attributes

“…Ohmic heating has also been used in combination with other methods for years. Shin et al [44] reviewed the hurdle technologies based on ohmic heating in food processing applications. They reported that the pathogen inactivation rate was significantly higher when the ohmic heating was used in combination with other [45] studied the pressureohmic-thermal-sterilization treatment of low-acid foods like vegetable purees and reported its effectiveness in controlling bacterial endospores.…”

Simulation and parametric sensitivity evaluation for ohmic heating of chicken breast

“…But even worse than Salmonella, C. jejuni may survive on chicken breast meat after 10 minutes of heating in boiling water (de Jong et al, 2012). Moreover, it has been established that the cold spot does not always appear in the geometrical centre of the product during OH (Choi et al, 2020;Salengke & Sastry, 2007) and foodborne pathogens can survive in those spots for a long time (Shin et al, 2020). That is why it is critical to understand the heating behaviour of chicken meat during OH and the factors that influence it.…”