Emerging preservation technologies

Current consumer trends indicate their preference for easy-to-prepare, high quality, safe and natural foods, which are relatively unprocessed but at the same time have a longer shelf-life. The challenge for food preservation technologies is to obtain longer-lasting products without sacrificing their initial nutritional and sensorial characteristics, etc.

The purpose of food preservation technologies is to achieve safe products for the consumer and prolong shelf-life. In the case of thermal treatments, for example, another of the aims is to ensure certain sensorial characteristics (flavour, colour, smell, etc). Since this type of treatment can sometimes have a negative influence on the sensorial and nutritional characteristics of products (loss of nutrients, etc.), research has focused on developing alternative thermal treatments to traditional methods. They aim to achieve more effective heating (lower energy consumption) that delivers a more uniform result, and is faster and less aggressive to the product.