Inactivation kinetics of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes in apple juice by microwave and conventional thermal processing

The growing demands for natural and nutritious foods have promoted the development of preservation technologies to ensure consumer safety and to preserve the original nutritional and organoleptic characteristics of the food. Among the emerging technologies, microwave heating has shown great potential for the continuous pasteurization of fluid foods offering rapid volumetric heating, lower surface temperatures and possible enhanced effects. The result of this study shows that microwave pasteurization of apple juice is a promising technology to enhance microbial safety.