High pressure technology in the food industry

Abstract The effects of high hydrostatic pressure (up to 10 000 kg/cm 2 ) on the viability of microorganisms and on protein denaturation have been known for over 90 years. Renewed interest has recently been shown, particularly in Japan where high hydrostatic pressure machines have been developed for food industry research. Efforts are being made to apply high hydrostatic pressure techniques to food technology. At present, the available machines work only for batch processing and have very small working volumes. The problem of achieving high throughput, while minimizing cost and optimizing operational lifetime, remains to be solved.