Application of mathematical models to validate emerging processing technologies in food.

This review focuses on aspects of emerging technologies and mathematical models to describe the behavior of microorganisms subjected to food processing. Also, it discusses the understanding of the mechanisms that are associated with these technologies on the microbial inactivation. Although there is an extensive number of published works about combining the effects of emerging technologies for preserving food, only a few address developing mathematical models to validate these approaches that have not been discussed in so much detail. Our focus is to review the most common modeling approaches adopted in food processing by emerging technologies. Moreover, some considerations are taken for developing models for emerging technologies that incorporate specific parameters that could provide valuable information regarding food safety. All rights reserved, Elsevier.