Processing of baby food using pressure-assisted thermal sterilization (PATS) and comparison with thermal treatment

ABSTRACT

Currently baby food is sterilized using retort processing that gives an extended shelf life. However, this type of heat processing leads to reduction of organoleptic and nutrition value. Alternatively, the combination of pressure and heat could be used to achieve sterilization at reduced temperatures. This study investigates the potential of pressure-assisted thermal sterilization (PATS) technology for baby food sterilization. Here, baby food (apple puree), inoculated with Bacillus subtilis spores was treated using PATS at different operating temperatures, pressures and times and was compared with thermal only treatment. The results revealed that the decimal reduction time of B. subtilis in PATS treatment was lower than that of thermal only treatment. At a similar spore inactivation, the retention of ascorbic acid of PATS-treated sample was higher than that of thermally treated sample. The results indicated that PATS could be a potential technology for baby food processing while minimizing quality deterioration.

KEYWORDS:

• Baby food
• pressure-assisted thermal sterilization
• Bacillus subtilis
• spore inactivation
• ascorbic acid

Acknowledgements

We would like to appreciate the assistance of Raymond Hoffman in operating the PATS unit.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was carried out as part of the Food Industry Enabling Technologies (FIET) program funded by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (contract MAUX1402).