High Hydrostatic Pressure
treatments are less detrimental than
thermal processes to low molecular weight food compounds such
as flavouring agents, pigments, vitamins. Vegetative cells,
including yeasts and moulds can be inactivated by pressures of
~300-600 MPa, while bacterial spores are highly pressure
resistant. High-pressure processing (HPP) can be applied to
inactivate food quality related enzymes (PPO, POD, PME) of
plant foods, and thus enhance safety, quality and extend the
shelf-life of processed products. HPP should be used in
combination with other technologies to assure microbial
safety. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a candidate for
such a combination because of its ability to inactivate
pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms.
The combination of High Hydrostatic
Pressure and modified atmosphere packaging with CO2
(HHPCO) is a novel processing technique to enhance the
safety and shelf life of several foods and can be regarded as
clear progress beyond the state of the art.
Pressurization of prepacked vegetables with
CO2 atmosphere are conducted in a pilot plant
equipment of high pressure at Instituto del Frío-CSIC
(Equipment
GEC Alsthom ACB 900 HP) and in a
Spanish company of manufacturing HP equipments, NC-Hyperbaric
(Equipment Wave 600/55).
