Stabilisation of fatty duck liver by high pressure treatment

Abstract

The well known product foie gras, fatty goose or duck liver, is a traditional French product of high organoleptic value, and can be processed through different ways: fresh, it should be used immediately (restaurants); “half cooked”, it should be kept refrigerated up to 42 days (depending of temperature reached at coldest point). Pasteurisation with complete cooking allows a shelf life up to 6 months at + 4°C. Thennal sterilisation is also possible for room temperature storage, but the process is ddlicult to handle and the given Fo values are kept low. The fatty liver is highly fragile and all thermal processing lead to a certain extent of fat melting and browning, detrimental to the yield and to the organoleptic properties.