title: Thermal pasteurization of ready-to-eat foods and vegetables: Critical factors for process design and effects on quality.
abstract: Increasing consumer desire for high quality ready-to-eat foods makes thermal pasteurization important to both food producers and researchers. To be in compliance with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), food companies seek regulatory and scientific guidelines to ensure that their products are safe. Clearly understanding the regulations for chilled or frozen foods is of fundamental importance to the design of thermal pasteurization processes for vegetables that meet food safety requirements. This article provides an overview of the current regulations and guidelines for pasteurization in the U.S. and in Europe for control of bacterial pathogens. Poorly understood viral pathogens, in terms of their survival in thermal treatments, are an increasing concern for both food safety regulators and scientists. New data on heat resistance of viruses in different foods are summarized. Food quality attributes are sensitive to thermal degradation. A review of thermal kinetics of inactivation of quality-related enzymes in vegetables and the effects of thermal pasteurization on vegetable quality is presented. The review also discusses shelf-life of thermally pasteurized vegetables.
authors.affiliation: a College of Food Science and Technology , Nanjing Agricultural University , Nanjing , Jiangsu , China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: b Department of Biological Systems Engineering , Washington State University , Pullman , Washington , USA.
authors.forename: Juming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: c Department of Food Science and Technology , University of California , Davis , California , USA.
authors.forename: Diane M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Barrett
authors.affiliation: b Department of Biological Systems Engineering , Washington State University , Pullman , Washington , USA.
authors.forename: Shyam S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Sablani
authors.affiliation: d U.S. Food and Drug Administration , The Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN)\Office of Food Safety , Bedford Park , Illinois , USA.
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: e School of Food Science , Washington State University , Pullman , Washington , USA.
authors.forename: Joseph R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Powers
mesh_terms: D005060:Europe; D057140:Fast Foods / Q000592:standards*; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D005516:Food Microbiology; D063427:Food Quality; D061352:Pasteurization / Q000379:methods*; D014675:Vegetables
keywords: FSMA; Thermal pasteurization; pathogens; ready-to-eat; regulations; vegetables