ABSTRACT
This research investigated the potential of multi-pass homogenization treatment for the inactivation of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis inoculated at different levels in liquid whole egg (LWE) comparing the efficacy of this treatment with a traditional thermal one performed at 65 °C. Moreover, the effects of high pressure treatment (HPH) on structural and functional properties such as viscosity, microstructure and foaming abilities of LWE were investigated. The data obtained suggested that the multi-pass high pressure treatment at 100 MPa of S. enterica serovar Enteritidis inoculated in LWE at 7 and 4 log CFU/ml resulted in a first order inactivation kinetic, while the thermal inactivation curves of S. enterica serovar Enteritidis inoculated at 8 and 4 log CFU/ml presented a non-linear behaviour, with a marked tail after 3 min of treatment at 65 °C. Additionally, HPH treatment caused an increase in foaming capacity of LWE, with respect to the untreated samples, passing from values of 26% of the control to 50% of pressure treated samples.
Subject(s)
Eggs/analysis , Eggs/microbiology , Food Handling/methods , Salmonella enteritidis/growth & development , Consumer Product Safety , Food Safety , Hot Temperature , Pressure , ViscosityABSTRACT
UNLABELLED: Liquid whole egg (LWE) is currently pasteurized through the application of heat; however, this treatment entails deleterious effects against some of the functional and technological properties of the product. In this study, the effect of high-intensity pulsed electric fields (HIPEF) processing (field strength: 19, 32, and 37 kV/cm) was compared to the traditional heat pasteurization (66 °C for 4.5 min). Different physical and structural characteristics of LWE, subjected or not to homogenization, were evaluated and compared, having the untreated LWE as a reference. Thermal treatment caused an increase in the viscosity of LWE, especially in nonhomogenized samples. HIPEF treatments did not modify the original color of LWE, whereas thermally treated samples developed an opaque appearance. LWE treated at 19 and 32 kV/cm exhibited a similar foaming capacity as fresh untreated egg, whereas thermal processing and PEF treatments of 37 kV/cm caused a substantial decrease in the foaming capacity of untreated liquid egg. Regarding the microstructure, the lipoprotein matrix appeared to be less affected by the HIPEF than by heat treatment if compared to the control. In addition, heat pasteurization had a significant impact on both the water-soluble protein content of the LWE samples (19.5% to 23.6% decrease) and the mechanical properties of the egg gels (up to 21.3% and 14.5% increase in hardness and cohesiveness, respectively). On the other hand, these parameters were not substantially affected in the HIPEF-treated samples. Heat-induced gels obtained from HIPEF-treated samples did not exhibit remarkable differences in the water-holding capacity (WHC) with respect to heat-pasteurized samples. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The impact of high-intensity pulsed electric fields (HIPEF) processing on technological properties of liquid-whole egg was investigated and compared to that of thermal processing. Heat treatments cause a severe impact on the foaming capacity, the water-soluble protein content, and the rheological properties of liquid egg samples, whereas HIPEF treatments better preserved the food matrix structure. Microscopic observations support these results, thus suggesting that HIPEF-processing has potential application for the preservation of liquid egg through nonthermal means.
Subject(s)
Chemical Phenomena , Eggs , Food Handling/methods , Food Preservation/methods , Hot Temperature , Color , Electricity , Microscopy, Electron, Scanning , ViscosityABSTRACT
The potential of using compact discs as high throughput screening platforms for DNA microarraying is discussed and applied to discriminate genetic variations of Plum pox virus.
