Technology for preservation of food with pulsed electric fields (PEF)

Food can be preserved with pulses of electric fields with a magnitude of 10 to 50 kV/cm and a duration of 1 to 10 /spl mu/s. To apply this technique both a treatment chamber (applicator) and an electronic pulse generator is required. In this paper an overview is given of types of pulse generators for pulsed electric fields (PEF). Further limitations of the technology as imposed by the limited switching power of switches are discussed with respect to the availability of switches.