Impact comparison of high pressure processing and pulsed electric fields processing on tomato and watermelon juice

Increased consumer awareness of potential health benefits of consumption of fruits and vegetables resulted in growing demand for fresh or minimally processed juices. In this context, food sector stakeholders are constantly looking into possible alternatives for thermal processing, aiming to better maintain food quality attributes while at the same time delivering the required level of safety. Among many alternative technologies, two technologies were recognised as the most promising ones: high pressure processing (HPP) and pulsed electric fields (PEF) processing.

This doctoral thesis aims at a fair basis comparison of thermal, PEF and HPP preservation of juices, where processing conditions were experimentally selected aiming at an equivalent level of microbial inactivation. Two relevant juices different in acidity were selected: (1) watermelon juice as a low-acidic matrix, and (2) tomato juice as an acidic matrix. The first part of the doctoral research addresses a quality comparison of the processing impact of thermal, HPP and PEF processing on the two selected fruit matrices, immediately after the treatment as well as during shelf-life using an untargeted fingerprinting approach. The second part addresses the energy requirements and environmental impact using life cycle assessment (LCA) of the three selected processing technologies.