Innovative Technologies for Decontamination of Foods

The drive towards non-thermal decontamination technologies is rising globally due to the constant rise of issues of insecurity and issues related to thermal methods such as changes in the quality characteristics of foods such as the sensory aspect, nutritional contents and so much more in addition to high costs of operations. Non-thermal food decontamination methods involve the decontamination of food with little or no application of any form of heat source for the destruction of microorganisms. This review focused on non-thermal decontamination technologies such as microwave method, infrared heating, high hydrostatic pressure, cold plasma, ultrasound, pulsed light as substitutes to traditional decontamination methods used for various foods and their various roles as substitutes to the conventional decontamination methods used in food, their progress, advantages, and several drawbacks associated with them. The novel non-thermal technology has shown great efficiency in decontaminating food and its product thereby making it hygienically fit for consumption.