Non-Thermal Methods for Ensuring the Microbiological Quality and Safety of Seafood

Abstract

A literature search and systematic review were conducted to present and discuss the most recent research studies for the past twenty years on the application of non-thermal methods for ensuring the microbiological safety and quality of fish and seafood. This review presents the principles and reveals the potential benefits of high hydrostatic pressure processing (HHP), ultrasounds (US), non-thermal atmospheric plasma (NTAP), pulsed electric fields (PEF), and electrolyzed water (EW) as alternative methods to conventional heat treatments. Some of these methods have already been adopted by the seafood industry, while others show promising results in inactivating microbial contaminants or spoilage bacteria from solid or liquid seafood products without affecting the biochemical or sensory quality. The main applications and mechanisms of action for each emerging technology are being discussed. Each of these technologies has a specific mode of microbial inactivation and a specific range of use. Thus, their knowledge is important to design a practical application plan focusing on producing safer, qualitative seafood products with added value following today’s consumers’ needs.

Inhibition of corrosion causing Pseudomonas aeruginosa using plasma-activated water

“…During the last decade, cold plasma treatment has been attracting attention as a green technology for the inactivation of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria on different matrices (Ehlbeck et al, 2010; Ekonomou & Boziaris, 2021; Jayathunge et al, 2019; Pasquali et al, 2016), as well as a method for decontamination of industrial surfaces and medical equipment (Alshraiedeh et al, 2020; Ben Belgacem et al, 2017; Gonzalez‐Gonzalez et al, 2021). Recently, the development of PAW offered a new opportunity as a promising decontamination method for the preservation of food (Liao et al, 2018; Ma et al, 2015; Thirumdas et al, 2018) and wound healing in the medical industry (Chen et al, 2017; Kaushik et al, 2018), and as an alternative disinfectant for the inactivation of bacteria in water (Pan et al, 2017; Zhou et al, 2018).…”

Mild processing of seafood—A review

“…However, it is known that chlorine and reactive oxygen can affect cell membranes and cause oxygen damage to DNA (Liao et al., 2018) and that factors such as pH (Park et al., 2004) and the oxidation–reduction potential (Liao et al., 2007) could be of significance. Most likely, there is a combination of mentioned reactions that inhibit bacterial growth and prevent product quality deterioration (Ekonomou & Boziaris, 2021).…”

Seafood Processing, Preservation, and Analytical Techniques in the Age of Industry 4.0

“…The use of nonthermal treatments has been extensively studied in recent years to meet consumer demand for minimally processed products with high sensory and nutritional qualities. Nonthermal pulsed electric field (PEF), high pressure processing (HPP), and ultrasound (US) are among the most applied techniques [80,81].…”

“…These conditions destroy the cell wall of microorganisms which leads to their decay [103]. The technique can be used alone or in combination with other techniques (based on heat or pressure) on various fish products to increase safety of microbiological and sensory qualities [80,104,105]. Recently, an innovative US-based technology has been emerged and used for the extraction of bioactive compounds known as ultrasounds-assisted extraction (UAE).…”