The Application of high pressure processing in decontamination of dry fermented sausages

Abstract

High pressure processing (HPP) is a non-thermal postprocessing technology for decontamination of foods with minor impact on their nutritional and sensory characteristics. In the meat industry, HPP is mainly used to increase shelf-life and improve the safety of processed and ready-to-eat meat products. HPP can also be considered as a technique for creation of innovative meat products. In the last decade, numerous scientific studies on HPP application to dry fermented sausages have been published. Many factors, including sausage formulation and processing parameters as well as time, temperature and intensity of treatment, can influence the effectiveness of high pressure in processing these types of products. In general, pressure higher than 400 MPa is necessary to achieve efficacious microbial inactivation. HPP treatment has no detrimental effects on sensory qualities of dry fermented sausages or these effects are minor compared to other decontamination technologies. Also, HPP is environmentally friendly, and hence, wider application of this technology in the food industry is expected in the near future.