Recent advances in the application of pulsed light processing for improving food safety and increasing shelf life

Background: New technologies of non-thermal disinfection such as pulsed light (PL) have emerged lately as an alternative to traditional (thermal and chemical) disinfection and preservation methods. PL can be used to decontaminate a great variety of foods as well as to decontaminate contact surfaces, thus improving safety in foods and extending their shelf life. Moreover, this technology can prevent or reduce some of the detrimental effects of traditional methods on nutrients and bioactive compounds of food products. Scope and approach: The combination of PL with other techniques such as ultraviolet light (UV), thermo-sonication (TS), pulsed electric fields (PEF), manothermosonication (MTS), etc., can improve the effectiveness of the decontamination process. Therefore, in this review, some of the most relevant studies evaluating the potential application of PL treatments to decontaminate food samples, and its impact of nutritional and physicochemical quality parameters will be discussed. Key findings and conclusions: PL treatments are suitable for microbial decontamination in transparent drinks and for surface contaminated foods without complex microstructures. They also can be used for meat, fish and their by-products However, it is still necessary to evaluate the appropriate treatment conditions (number of light flashed, voltage, distance between sample and flash light, spectral range of light flashes and contamination) for each food and microorganism separately to improve the effectiveness and minimize the appearance of negative attributes reducing the quality of product as, in some cases, PL can have a negative effect on the photosensitive compounds and sensory characteristics of food products.