Sauces, dressings and marinades
PEF for sauces, dressings and marinades
Product examples: Tomato sauce, salad dressings, meat marinades
Aim PEF treatment: Microbial inactivation, increased shelf life
Increased shelf life
PEF processing extends the shelf life of liquid food products. While the microbial stability of sauces, dressings and marinades is improved, their nutritional value is better retained by cold pasteurization than by thermal pasteurization. The retention of vitamins, antioxidants and pigments gives a healthier, fresher and more appetizing sauce or dressing. The shelf life is comparable to that of thermally pasteurized foods. Required field strengths range from 10 to 20 kV/cm and the energy delivery is 50 to 120 kJ/kg. See also: Food preservation.
Benefits PEF
- Targeted and controllable decontamination enabled by permeabilizing cell membranes of micro-organisms
- Longer shelf life
- Higher process efficiency by reductions in energy, labor and running costs
- Vitamins, minerals, pigments, antioxidants and flavors are retained producing a healthier, fresher and more appetizing final product
- Proteins are hardly affected
- Extended shelf life results in greater flexibility for production planning
- Continuous process and rapid technique
- Small equipment footprint and quick start up of the process
- Low energy requirement
More information
For preservation of liquids (microbial inactivation) PEF is applicable to pumpable products with a particle diameter of less than 20 mm.
Pulsemaster has developed industrial scale equipment – named Conditioner – with treatment capacities up to 5,000 l/h (1320 US gal./h) for microbial inactivation.