Innovative Non-Thermal Processing Technologies for Shelf Life Extension and Retention of Bioactive Compounds in Liquid Foods: Current Status and Future Prospects.

Consumer demands for fresh and minimally processed liquid foods that support disease prevention and promote health emphasize the need for innovative processing technologies that ensure microbiological safety and preserve bioactive compounds. In addition, consumers are becoming more concerned about the presence of chemical additives in liquid foods. Non-thermal processing technologies, including high-pressure processing, high-pressure homogenization, pulsed electric field, pulsed magnetic field, high-pressure carbon dioxide, ultrasound treatment, radiation processing, ozone processing, cold plasma, and membrane processing, offer excellent prospects for the application in liquid foods. The given technologies aim to retain bioactive properties, deactivate enzymatic activity, and destroy microorganisms, thereby extending the shelf life of liquid foods. Thus, this current review, without a doubt, could be valuable to the liquid food industries and the scientific world by offering great insight into the latest developments in the use of innovative non-thermal processing technologies, which can be employed for shelf life extension and the retention of bioactive compounds in liquid foods. This paper also discusses the challenges faced by the liquid food industry that need to be addressed in future studies.