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New strategies for minimally processed foods. The role of multitarget preservation/Nuevas
estrategias para los alimentos mínimamente procesados. La conservación "multiblanco"
S.M. Alzamora, M.S. Tapia and J. Welti Chanes
Food Science and Technology International 1998 4: 353
DOI: 10.1177/108201329800400507
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Instituto de
2 Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos, Universidad Central de Venezuela,
Apartado Postal 47097, Caracas 1041-A Venezuela
Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Alimentos, Escuela de Ingeniería,
3
Universidad de las Américas, Apartado Postal 100, Cholula 72820, Puebla, México
Minimally processed foods represent a problem from the point of view of microbiological safety,
since their processing implies a loss of extrinsic and intrinsic preservation factors. This paper ana-
lyzes the microbiological status of minimally processed foods and the prospects to extend their mi-
crobiological safety by the hurdles technology. Some issues to be taken into account for this technol-
ogy are also considered
353
mentation of hazard analysis and critical control points servative or radiation. Finally, according to Ohlsson
principles, but also on the design of the preservation (1994) and for the purposes of this work, the term
system with additional hurdles so that an imperfect ’minimal processing’ has evolved and includes a wide
processing and/or packaging, distribution and storage range of methods and technologies for preserving very
can still guarantee safe products. short shelf-life food products while minimizing
Multitarget preservation of foods is achieved by in- changes to their like-fresh characteristics, or for im-
terfering with the homeostasis of microorganisms by proving quality attributes of long shelf-life foods prod-
different small conservation factors or hurdles used in ucts. These methods &dquo;change the inherent like-fresh
combination, each one hitting different targets within quality attributes of the food as little as possible but att
the microbiological cell (Leitsner, 1995a). For vegetative the same time endow the food product with a shelf-
cells (energy-dependent homeostasis) this technology life sufficient for its transport from the processing plant
aims to combine the stresses that increase the expendi- to the consumers&dquo;.
ture of energy and/or reduce the microorganisms’ abil- Major traditional preservation procedures as well as
ity to generate energy; for spores (passive homeostasis) new and improved techniques of minimal processing
the idea is to combine stresses that attack the structures that are being researched and/or applied are summa-
(Gould and Jones, 1989). With a rational selection of rized in Table 1. All traditional methods are character-
these hurdles, microbial hazards of MP foods can be ized by slow unwanted deteriorative physico-chemical
much reduced without loss of their quality. reactions, microbial stability (inactivation or inhibition
The purpose of this paper is to consider the micro- of the growth of pathogenic and spoilage microorgan-
biological status of minimally processed foods together isms and low risk of food poisoning) and well known
with the prospects for achieving extended storage life understanding of the principles of preservation and in-
and enhanced safety of these products with the dustrial implementation. However, many of these tech-
111ultitarget approach. Some issues that need to be taken nologies cause severe changes in the nature of the food.
into account for the application of the hurdle technol- Many new and improved traditional technologies, al-
ogy are also addressed. though developed to minimize damage to food quality,
need to be further investigated in terms of microbio-
Definition of minimally processed foods logical mechanisms of preservation, nutritional and sen-
sory quality of the products, and engineering aspects
The term ’minimally processed foods’ (MPF) (also of the industrialization of the methods. Some of these
named ’partially processed foods’, foods with ’invis- procedures have not yet found their way into wide-
ible processing’ or ’partial preservation treatment’) has, spread commercial use. As many of these techniques
in recent years, became much less restrictive in its alone are insufficient to obtain stable and safe foods,
meaning (Welti-Chanes et al., 1997; Wiley, 1994). The they can be thought of only as one of the hurdles in the
MPF concept was originally linked to fresh meat and frame of a combined method of preservation.
produce and distinguished by the life permanence in
the biological tissue. The production of MP vegetables
and fruits started about 30 years ago and was mostly MICROBIOLOGICAL SAFETY OF
intended for catering and the fast-food industry, the
main features being the presence of cut surfaces or
CURRENT MP PRODUCTS
damaged plant tissue, active metabolism of the plant
tissue, minimal processing that cannot ensure micro- MP foods, as defined above, comprise a diverse group
bial sterility of the product, and confinement of the of commodities, the microbiological risks associated
product (Nguyen-the and Carlin, 1994). Huxsoll and varying substantially according to the product and pro-
Bolin (1989) introduced an important modification in cess design. The types and levels of microorganisms that
the previous concept when they suggested that the will be present will be affected by the indigenous mi-
requirement of living tissues was not necessary if food croflora, the microorganisms contaminating before and
freshness was kept. Wiley (1994) reinforced this last after processing, the effects of processing and packag-
approach recognizing that MP refrigerated fruits and ing, the intrinsic properties of the food (namely a, pH,
vegetables are products that contain live tissues or type of acid, antimicrobials, nutrients, O, redox poten-
those that have been only slightly modified from the tial, food components, etc.), and the extrinsic factors
fresh condition and are like-fresh in character and qual- applied (e.g. head space composition, temperature
ity. They are given a partial but not end-point preser- throughout storage, relative humidity, light, heat treat-
vation treatment, including use of minimal heat, a pre- ment prior to consumption, etc.).
Table 1. Principal technologies for food preservation (adapted from Gould, 1995).
Tabla 1. Principales tecnologias de conservaci6n de alimentos (segun Gould, 1995).
An important sector of the MP foods market is were above 7.2 °C; were above 10 °C; and al-
over 25%
formed by chilled foods, e.g. foods that rely either ex- most 10% were above 12.8 °C, while at home greater
clusively or primarily on cold storage for preservation. than 25% were at temperatures higher than 7.2 °C and
These foods may contain entirely raw foods; low-risk 10% were above 10 °C (Audits International, 1989). In
raw and uncooked ingredients (’prepared chilled’ or addition, refrigerated foods can be stored by the con-
’ready-to-eat foods’, typical shelf-life =10-14 days) such sumer for a longer time than intended because sensory
as a salad or cheese components; entirely cooked or quality is still good. The main concern is that spoilage
baked ingredients (’cooked ready-to-eat foods’, typical bacteria are inhibited sufficiently to allow toxin forma-
shelf-life >_ two weeks) or they can be in-pack pasteur- tion, toxigenesis preceding organoleptic spoilage.
ized and stored for extended periods (’ready-to-eat Although modified atmosphere packaging (MAP)
products for extended durability’ or REPFED, typical extends shelf-life and visual appearance of food, its use
shelf-life > 40 days) (Brackett, 1992; Brown and Gould, continues to be questionable because of the possible
1992). Major concerns over the microbiological safety growth of anaerobic and psychotrophic pathogens. Mi-
of chilled foods have been detailed in the literature crobial safety is affected in three ways: (i) the stimula-
(Brackett, 1992; Brown and Gould, 1992; Walker, 1992; tory effect of COZ on spore germination; (ii) the inhibi-
Hanlin et al., 1995). The principal situation that affects tion of the spoilage, aerobic microorganisms, which are
safety is improper refrigeration (accidental due to me- indicators of incipient spoilage; and (iii) the potential
chanical failure or intentional to save energy costs) dur- for temperature abuse (Hotchkiss and Banco, 1992).
ing manufacture, distribution, retail sale and at home. Storage at chilled temperatures cannot prevent all
Chilled foods are not free from abuse. Household and pathogenic growth, but can inhibit the growth of some
retail refrigerator temperatures often exceed the values types of microorganisms and decrease the growth rate
recommended by the processors. A study conducted in of others (Table 2). Therefore, the shelf-life of chilled
twenty five major metropolitan areas in the United foods depends on a balance between the minimum tem-
States showed that over 80% of the refrigerated prod- perature for growth, the growth rate at chilled tempera-
ucts in the retail markets were above 4.4 °C; over 50% tures, and the storage time and temperatures. As tem-
Table 2. Pathogenic microorganisms of concern in chilled foods and their minimum growth temperature, pH and aw.
Tabla 2. Microorganismos pat6genos en alimentos refrigerados y sus valores minimos de crecimiento de aw, pH y
temperatura.
perature control is one of the key issues with regard to antimicrobial activities of many of these natural systems
chilled foods to control the survival or growth of any have indicated that the levels necessary to inhibit mi-
microorganisms that remain in the food or that enter crobial growth are considerable higher in foods than in
the food after processing, and there are many opportu- culture media, significantly impairing the flavor of the
nities for temperature abuse to occur, authorities in dif- foods. However, their effectiveness can be enhanced by
ferent countries are increasingly suggesting the use of use in additive or synergistic combination with other
others factors in combination with refrigeration. stress factors, thus reducing the concentrations neces-
On the other side of the spectrum from MP technolo- sary for efficacy (Gould, 1996).
gies (Table 1 ), there is a wide range of modern techniques
that cause physical inactivation of microorganisms (e.g. Use of hurdles technology in minimally processed
oscillating magnetic field pulses, high electric field pulses foods
and high hydrostatic pressure treatments). These non-
thermal procedures are being encouraged for food pres- Hurdles technology can be applied in the design of the
ervation because, without the need for severe heating, preservation system of MP foods in many ways: (i) at vari-
they cause minimal damage to the flavor, texture and ous stages of the food distribution chain, in storage, in
nutritional quality of some foods. They are effective in processing and/or in packaging as a ’back-up’ measure
inactivating vegetative cells of most microorganisms but in existing MP products with short shelf-life, in order to
spores are far more tolerant. Thus, their applications are diminish the risks and /or increase their shelf-life (Leitsner,
analogous to thermal pasteurization. It is likely that the 1995b); (ii) as an important tool for improving quality of
hurdles approach will become applicable by combining long shelf-life products without sacrificing their microbio-
these and other new procedures or by using them to logical stability; or (iii) as a new preservation procedure
complement conventional methods in order to inactivate deliberately intended for obtaining novel MP foods.
spores (Barbosa-CA novas et al.,1995; Gould, 1996). In the last ten years, the popularity of the hurdles
Antimicrobial systems naturally present in plants concept has dramatically increased and numerous pub-
(e.g. phenolics, essential oils, phytoalexins), animals (e.g. lications have now indicated its potential application
lysozyme, lactoperoxidase, lactoferrin, ovotransferrin, for the development of minimally processed foods.
avidin) or microorganisms (e.g. nisin, pediocin and other (Table 3). An analysis of the voluminous literature on
bacteriocins; pimaricin, subtilin and other antibiotics) this subject serves to highlight two important aspects.
or those generated by these in stress situations are ex- (i) Most work has been focused on studying the re-
tremely appealing to the public in the context of ’natu- sponse to the stress factors of key microorganisms
ral preservatives’. Recent reports on ill vitro and in food in laboratory media and in model systems, and few
Table 3. Examples of barriers suggested for using in combination in the formulation of minimal processing preservation
systems.
Tabla 3.Ejemplos de &dquo;obst.~culos&dquo; para su uso combinado en los sistemas de preservaci6n de alimentos minimamente
procesados.
studies have been undertaken using actual foods. (ii) In many cases, intensity of the hurdles is detrimen-
Moreover, when actual foods were assayed, in most tal to the food quality (e.g. flavor) and should be low-
cases the native flora had been previously inacti- ered, keeping in mind that hurdles levels must not
vated. The ecology of pathogens and nonpathogens only consider safety, but also desired total quality.
in foods is very complex and their interactions are Based on the facts cited above, much remains to be
difficult to predict. done regarding the contribution of the hurdles approach
to minimal food preservation. In addition, Gould et al. of different stresses are applied, and pointed out the
(1995) pointed out that, although much progress on the high risks involved if these stresses are employed in
physiology of the most important target microorgan- sequence.
isms relevant to factors affecting growth and survival Archer (1996) focused on the ability of environmen-
has been made, this has not yet been sufficiently ex- tal stresses to increase bacterial virulence, promoting
ploited in the control of food poisoning microflora in a adaptive mutations that may select strains of invasive
practical way of commercial interest. organisms that are even more virulent. This enhanced
The success of the hurdles technology used to de- virulence is extremely serious in immuno-compromised
sign and/or to increase the safety of MP foods can be consumers.
compromised in many ways. Two phenomena that ap- The thermotolerance of L. 111011ocytogel1es in the pres-
pear to be significantly affecting the efficiency of the ence of stress factors was studied by Lou and Yousef
combined approach are next addressed. (1996). Exposing cells to sublethal environmental
stresses, such as starvation, ethanol, acid and H,O2,
Adaptatio11 of microorganis111s to sub-lethal stresses greatly increased the resistance of this pathogen to
heat, the heat resistance being much greater at the late
Spore-forming and non-spore-forming microorganisms than at the early stages of the growth. As a consequence
sometimes react or adapt to mild stress factors by de- of the stress-induced cross-protection, these authors
veloping some mechanisms to repair the damages and introduced the ’stress hardening’ concept as a comple-
to become even more resistant surviving more severe ment of the hurdles concept, remarking that stress
homologous or heterologous stresses (Gould et al., 1995; hardening may counterbalance the benefits of the
Knochel and Gould, 1995). Much of the research on the hurdles approach.
so-called ’global stress response’ has only been focused After adaptation to mild stresses, cells behave differ-
on the heat stress response and on acid adaptation, with ently from unadapted ones and can grow at values out-
the physiological bases involved not yet being fully side the traditionally known ranges of temperature,
understood. For example, bacteria that have been ex- water activity and pH determined under nearly opti-
posed to mildly acidic conditions acquire the ability to mal conditions (Hill et al., 1995). Therefore, microbio-
survive not only normally lethal pH values but also logical challenge testing to assess the risk of food poi-
other stresses that microorganisms may meet in foods soning or to establish MP product stability needs careful
(Hill et al., 1995; Lou and Yousef, 1996). design, and stressed known or potential pathogens
Foster (1995) has explored inducible acid survival would be preferably selected for food inoculation.
of Salmonella typlzimurill111. Lag phase cells adapted to Another point to be considered is that in certain in-
pH 5.8 (pre-acid shock) prior to an acid challenge of stances, subinhibitory levels of additives, preservatives
pH 3.3 (post-acid shock) survived this last condition or chemicals may stimulate mold growth and/or toxin
better than unadapted cells that were grown at pH 7.7. accumulation (Rusul and Marth, 1988). An illustrative
It seems that an elevated pH homeostasis induced at example was reported by Resnik et al. (1996). They ana-
pH 5.8 allowed synthesis of a set of 50 proteins (called lyzed the effect of the concentration of vanillin (a ’natu-
acid shock proteins) required for maximum protection rally derived’ antimicrobial) on the growth rate and afla-
against pH. These proteins are not synthesized if the toxin accumulation of Aspergillus parasiticlls. The growth
pre-acid shock is not performed. Acid adaptation of S. rate decreased abruptly in the presence of 250 ppm van-
typhi111urizl11z cells has also been reported to increase illin, while 1500 ppm vanillin inhibited mold growth
their survival in cheese and their resistance to heat, during at least 37 days storage at 28 LC. However, 500
osmotic stress, organic acids, lactoperoxidase system ppm vanillin enhanced the AFB1 and AFG1 accumula-
and hydrophobic and surface-active compounds tion, the toxin levels exceeding those of the control.
(Leyer and Johnson, 1992; Lou and Yousef, 1996). Hill Garies et al. (1984) also reported that A. flmms produced
et al. (1995) found that the ability of Listeria mono- more aflatoxin in the presence of 0.025% sorbic acid than
cytogenes L028 to survive at pH 3.5 is dramatically en- in the control medium, whereas 0.05% sorbic acid de-
hanced by prior induction for 90 min at pH 5.0, al- layed onset of growth and 0.1 % completely inhibited
though growth was not observed. They also reported growth. This would suggest that the use of additives or
that acid tolerant strains of L. 111011ocytoge11es are better preservatives at subinhibitory levels can not only stimu-
adapted to survival in fermented dairy products. These late toxin production but also eliminate other indig-
authors concluded that the acid tolerance response and enous microflora that might be competitive with the
the cross-induction of other stress responses are ex- growth of the mold favoring mold growth and toxin
tremely significant in MP foods, in which low levels production (Rusul and Marth, 1988).
Interaction between stress factors and food matrix ally being devised. The effect of these minimal pro-
The
cessing procedures on the growth and survival of both
intensity of the hurdles may change along product food poisoning and food spoilage microorganisms
storage. Alternatively, the initial intensity of the hurdle must be evaluated and, if risks are significant, further
may be less than the level applied. It is well known that barriers must be devised and incorporated into the
sorbates, commonly used as preservatives in many food preservation system. It is now well recognized that less
products, can be destroyed through an autoxidation processing requires more hurdles. Minimal processing
mechanism, its destruction affecting food product safety technologies need to be considered from this stand-
(Gerschenson and Campos, 1995). Sorbic acid stability point, including the use of traditional and novel
during processing and storage is largely dependent, stresses in order to improve the safety and quality of
among other factors, upon pH, a,,,, light, presence of our food supply.
oxygen, type of packaging material and other compo- To be successful, the hurdles combination design
nents of the system. For example, when studying the must be based, among other factors, on the following
loss of sorbic acid in stored shelf-stable fruits of high
aspects.
water activity (minimally preserved by combined fac- 1. Knowledge of the food ecosystem (e.g. microorgan-
tors), sorbic acid destruction ranged between 30 and 40% isms present, responses to stresses, pH, presence of
after four months storage (Alzamora et al., 1995). This antimicrobial compounds and structure of the food)
sorbic acid depletion with product storage must be taken and estimation of: (a) the probability that spoilage
into account if preserved fruits are to be stored for a and pathogenic microorganisms are present in the
long time. food; and (b) the levels of these microorganisms thatt
Many natural antimicrobials (e.g. bacteriocins, some can be expected after processing.
phenolics and essential oils) are less effective inhibitors 2. Use of literature data concerning microbial reac-
in food matrix than in vitro (Cerrutti and Alzamora, 1996; tion to food related stresses and/or predictive mi-
Gould, 1996; Schillinger et al., 1996). For instance, van- crobiology to identify potential risks and to esti-
illin activity against yeasts in fruit purees and nisin ac- mate the consequences of the various processing
tivity against L. l1lo1lOcytogenes in fluid milk decreases and formulation changes and packaging and dis-
with increasing fat concentration. The preservatives tribution conditions on the growth, survival and
probably bind to the fat, which thereby reduces their inactivation of food poisoning and food spoilage
availability to inhibit microorganisms. microorganisms.
The presence of di- and trivalent ions (such as Mg2+, 3. Understanding of physiological basis of microorgan-
Ca 2+ ) has been reported to reduce the efficiency of nisin isms’ survival and resistance to multiple stresses
against Gram-positive bacteria due to inhibition of elec- imposed by the use of combination preservation
trostatic interactions between positive charges on the methods.
bacteriocins and the negatively charged headgroups of 4. Careful design of a challenge testing program to de-
the phospholipid molecules of the cytoplasmic mem- termine the safety and the shelf-life of the product,
brane (Abee et al., 1995). These and other phenomena and use of stressed relevant microorganisms for chal-
that can reduce the intensity of the barriers are summa- lenge studies.
rized as follows: binding to food components such as 5. Consideration of the possible inactivation of the
proteins and fats; chemical degradation; inactivation hurdles by interaction with food components
and/or biological destabilization by other ingredients 6. Realization of laboratory validation studies that in-
or components; pH and temperature effects on hurdles clude fluctuations in environmental conditions (e.g.
stability and activity; physical losses by mass transport temperature for chilled foods).
from the food to the environment; poor solubility and
uneven distribution in the food (Abee et al., 1995;
Alzamora et al., 1995). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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