Nonthermal approaches to increase the shelf life and safety of vegetable puree: technical aspects of ultra high pressure homogenization processes and case studies

In recent decades, research in the food field has focused on the study and development of nonthermal and sustainable technologies (generally defined as friendly or green) for the treatment of food products of different nature, with the aim of maintain high safety and shelf-life standards, without compromising its nutritional content and sensorial and freshness characteristics. Furthermore, the use of sustainable technologies, as a replacement for drastic heat treatments, is certainly fundamental, in today’s globalized market, for the survival of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In fact, industrial competition itself makes process and product innovation crucial at this particular moment, focusing the interest of industries and researchers on the use of mild technologies that already exist in the industrial field, but which can be improved and easily implemented in normal production processes. The high-pressure homogenization (HPH) and the very HPH (ultra-high pressure homogenization) represent, in the panorama of nonthermal technologies, a very versatile and interesting approach, applicable continuously to foods and fluid and fluidizable matrices to increase the bioavailability of bioactive compounds, the structural functionality and the sensorial characteristics without compromising their safety.