WP4 – High Pressure and CO2

WP LEADER: M. Elisabetta Guerzoni (University of Bologna)

This task will be dedicated to the set up of high hydrostatic pressure and CO2 for decontamination and stabilisation of packaged minimally prepared meals (vegetables and legumes mixture).
                                           
The foods to be studied are mixtures of vegetables and legumes which will be processed combining high hydrostatic pressure, low temperature and CO2 to obtain a cooked vegetable dish ready-to-eat. Microbial response, enzymatic activity and nutritional compounds will be determined. The concentrations of living and dead microbial cells of spoilage and pathogenic species, deliberately inoculated in model systems and real foods, will be determined using culture techniques for multiple samples and molecular tools (WP5) and probabilistic models inactivation/survival should be calculated (WP6).
A specific task focusing on the study and identification of packaging materials able to extend the food shelf-life will be carried out.