Novel Processing Technology for Shelf Life Extension in Food

Dear Colleagues,

The development of food and nutrition sciences and the simultaneous progress in the production of modern processing equipment have resulted in a completely different approach to the shelf life of food. For many years, investigations on food shelf life focused on microbiological stability. Methods of thermal preservation of food were developed, from classical pasteurization and sterilization to methods using high temperature and very short time (HTST, UHT) to modern methods using unconventional thermal methods, such as ohmic and microwave heating. In recent years, new methods have emerged for the development of thermal methods. These include aseptic packaging, as well as non-thermal methods such as cold pasteurization using membrane processes at the microfiltration level which have been implemented in industrial practice. Preservation methods using cold plasma have also attracted attention recently, and the popularity of minimally processed food has resulted in the development of hybrid methods which can help to extend the shelf life of foods.  The development of the packaging sector (e.g., modified/controlled atmosphere, active and intelligent packaging) has resulted in extending the shelf life of foods, including fresh, minimally processed products. Another area of ​​development is ready-made products that can be eaten immediately after heating, e.g., the “cook and chill” and “cook and freeze” methods, which when combined with modern packaging methods allow maintaining quality longer than perishable products. A modern approach to food processing methods also involves the development of food safety and quality management methods through the GMP, GHP, and HCCP methods, as well as other, more advanced quality assurance methods. Food should be stable, but it should also maintain an appropriate level of biologically active compounds, which are often sensitive to environmental conditions and degrade due to the effect of the temperature of oxygen, light, water, and the presence of other food ingredients.  The application of processes which enable protecting a wide range of bioactive compounds and their stability during storage is a crucial factor in extending the shelf life of food products. To sum up, a novel approach to the issue of food shelf life for a sufficiently long period is a multi-pronged issue, covering many research directions, and this is an aspect that we want to showcase in this Special Issue, which covers the following issues: 

• Unconventional methods of food preservation;
• Membrane processes in food preservation;
• Stabilization of biologically active compounds in food;
• Quality management methods;
• Packaging methods;
• Minimally processing processes;
• “Cook and chill” and “cook and freeze” methods.

Dr. Dorota Nowak
Dr. Ewa Jakubczyk
Guest Editors

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