HHP processing is a non-thermal technology, which,
applied to foods, can increase chemical or microbial
stability and make desirable textural changes in food
products. HHP can inactivate deteriorative enzymes
and initial loads of foodborne micro-organisms.
However, the extent of such inactivation will depend
on pressure, treatment time and types of enzymes and
micro-organisms (Guerrero-Beltrán et al., 2004). The
primary focus on HHP has been as a substitute technology
for heat processing. As a non-thermal process,
HHP can be applied to heat-sensitive foods to guarantee
microbiological safety and quality characteristics in
minimally processed products (Palou et al., 2002).
HHP processing may increase the shelf life of foods,
since high pressure application has been shown to
denature proteins (Mertens, 1995) such as enzymes,
and combined with temperature, it may lead to microbial
inactivation, and pressure-induced gel formation