APPLICATIONS OF SOME NON-THERMAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR MICROBIAL DECONTAMINATION IN MEAT AND MEAT PRODUCTS

Nowadays, the quality of nutrition level is regarded as one of the most important criteria showing social development level. Therefore, it is important to increase the safety and quality of meat and meat products in order to provide healthy and balanced nutrition. Thus, heat treatment applications have been commonly used for preservation of meat and meat products, and this process provides improved shelf life and microbial safety. However, this technology causes changes in physical and chemical structure, organoleptic characteristics, and natural components of meat and meat products. Therefore, many research about non-thermal technologies has been conducted on muscle foods. This review aims to describe the basic principles, applications and effects of non-thermal technologies including irradiation, ultraviolet light, pulsed electric fields, pulsed light, high hydrostatic pressure and ultrasound used for microbial decontamination of meat and meat products