This paper proposes a review of some alternative approaches for food stabilisation and shelf life prolonging (based on the use of natural compounds and ⁄ or non-thermal techniques). After a brief description of food structure implication on the way of using the alternative approaches, two paragraphs summarise the topics of natural molecules (essential oils, lysozyme, lactoferrin and lactoperoxidase system, fatty acids, chitosan) and non-thermal approaches (high hydrostatic and homogenisation pressures, pulsed electric fields, high power ultrasound and irradiation). Finally, the last sections deal with the use of combined hurdles (along with the proposal of three possible modes of action of a multi-target preservation), the mathematical approaches for shelf life evaluating and some critical issues to be addressed in the future for a real scaling up of the proposed techniques.

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A response surface model was developed to describe the effects of temperature (35 to 55 degrees C), pH (3.5 to 5.5), and water activity (a(w), 0.960 to 0.992) on germination of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris spores. Germination and growth or viability loss depended, to varying extents, on the interactions among the independent variables and the complexity of the medium. In particular, maximum growth was achieved at temperatures between 35 and 42 degrees C and at pH values from 3.5 to 4.5. The model was validated against data not used in its development. Bias factors of 0.999 and 0.817 for 2- and 7-day models, respectively, were obtained, indicating that the models were "fail safe." Results indicated that the model provided reliable predictions of growth of A. acidoterrestris spores.

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