Application of Alternative Food-Preservation Technologies to Enhanced Food Safety and Stability. Antonio Bevilacqua, Maria Rosaria Corbo, and Milena Sinigagliou, eds.
This e-book was developed by targeting selected new methods of food preservation, including their mode of preservation, efficacy, risk assessment, and safety. It covers significantly on the natural preservatives, such as essential oil, enzymes, nisin, chitosan, and microencapsulation. Chapter 1 includes clear justifications and needs of the green and alternative approaches of food preservation followed by complete overviews on the chapters in the book. Chapter 2 proposes a brief description of the main steps for Quantitative Risk Analysis (QRA), along with some key concepts to define microbiological criteria for foods. QRA includes the steps of risk analysis/assessment, risk management, and risk communication. Chapter 3 reports different mechanisms and types of food spoilage along with a brief description of the most important pathogens and spoiling microorganisms recovered in foods and the biochemical changes occurring throughout food storage and spoilage. Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7 include the most important natural compounds used for food preservation. The aims of Chapter 4 was to make an overview of the current knowledge on the antibacterial activity of essential oils, their possible modes of action, and their possibilities and limitations of use in the food industry. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 present the use of enzymes and enzyme systems (lysozyme, lactoferrin, lactoperoxidase system), nisin, and chitosan as natural antimicrobials. These chapters follow similar organization as structure and functionality, mode of action, applications, safety, and toxicity of natural antimicrobials in food preservation.
Chapters 8 and 9 focus on the non-thermal approaches (high pressure, microwave, and irradiation). Chapter 8 on high pressure proposes an exhaustive description of both these methods, including the mode of actions against the microorganisms, the modifications on foodstuffs, a possible combination with some other hurdles, and some examples of industrial applications. Chapter 9 proposes a description of some non-thermal technologies (microwave, ultrasound, pulsed technologies, and irradiation) as suitable tools to inactivate foodborne pathogens and spoiling microorganisms in heat-sensitive foods.
Chapter 10 proposes another theoretical and necessary background, such as the predictive microbiology and the mathematical approach for shelf life prediction and evaluation. After a brief description of the most important primary models (both growth and survival functions), this chapter goes on some new approaches, like the S/P models, along with a brief synopsis of the most important secondary models. It reports some details on the design of experiments, focusing on the Central Composite Design and Centroid Approach. Finally, the book proposes two appendices, focusing on the microencapsulation of active ingredients as a new way for shelf life prolonging, and the use of non-conventional atmospheres, and as a convenient approach to control microbial growth and preserve food quality. It is not clear why these two chapters were included in the appendices. The case studies included in a few chapters would be very interesting to the readers.
This new book would be very useful for the higher level undergraduate and graduate students, academic, and industry professionals. There are many books on food preservation in the market, but very few of them covered the topics on natural preservatives, risk assessments, and microbial predictions. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the chapters and will definitely use them as references for my research and teaching on food preservation.
Mohammad S. Rahman
Sultan Qaboos University
Department of Food Science and Nutrition
Al-Khod, Oman