High pressure processing (HPP) of aronia berry puree: Pilot scale processing and a shelf-life study

Aronia berry puree was subjected to 400 and 600 MPa, 5 min high pressure processing (HPP) and then microbial shelf-life and quality changes of aronia puree during 8-week refrigerated storage were evaluated. HPP reduced the aerobic plate counts (APC) significantly and APC changed insignificantly during the 8-week storage. HPP completely inactivated yeasts and molds, and no regrowth was observed during 8-week storage. In contrast, yeasts in untreated puree increased from 4.7 to 6.1 log CFU/g. Physicochemical properties, total phenolic contents and antioxidant capacities of aronia puree had insignificant changes right after HPP and during 8-week refrigerated storage. Total anthocyanin content of untreated samples and those treated at 400 MPa decreased continuously during the storage. HPP, especially processing at 600 MPa for 5 min, could be an effective preservation technique for microbial population reduction, quality retention, and shelf-life extension of aronia puree. Industrial relevance: The growing demand for minimal processed and antioxidant-rich aronia berry products has stimulated the interest of food industry. Industrial sector demands methods to extend the microbial shelf-life and maintain its quality and nutritional values of aronia berry products during refrigerated storage. The results of this study demonstrated that HPP is effective in extending the microbial shelf-life, maintaining the quality and preserving the bioactive antioxidants of aronia berry puree during 8 weeks of refrigerated storage.