Sublethal moderated pressure pre-treatments for subsequent shorter and improved egg white thermal pasteurization.

The possibility of using a sublethal moderate pressure moderate pressure (MP) pre-treatment followed by a shorter and so gentler thermal pasteurization thermal pasteurization (TP), (MP-TP), was assessed, as an alternative to commercial egg white egg white (EW). (EW) TP, by evaluating the lethal efficacy against Salmonella Senftenberg and influence on the functional and physicochemical properties of EW. MP-TP treatments applied at pressures ≥ 90 MPa resulted in a synergistic lethal effect, thus reducing the thermal resistance of S. Senftenberg, leading to at least 4.4 log₁₀ cycles inactivation. In addition, a similar reduction was obtained for L. innocua using MP-TP. EW processed by MP-TP was less viscous (44%), showed better foaming capacity (119%), and produced harder (9-21%) and stiffer (17%) heat-induced gels than commercial TP samples. For the latter (TP samples), a higher increase in turbidity and soluble protein loss (about 35%), suggests higher protein aggregation than in MP-TP...