Safety Aspects of Non-Thermal Processing Applications for Fruit and Vegetable Processing

This chapter primarily examines the most widely applied non-thermal processes to fruits and vegetables from a food safety perspective. In addition to microbial contaminants, which cause the consumption of these food products to be risky, pesticides, toxins, and process contaminants are included in the relevant headings. It is seen that although the results vary according to the process condition and the studied product, each applied process offers significant advantages in itself. The effectiveness of cold plasma, irradiation, high hydrostatic pressure, ozone, pulsed electric field, pulsed light, supercritical carbon dioxide, and ultrasound processes is emphasized in ensuring food safety for fruits and vegetables. In addition, parameters such as quality and sensory that may be affected by the process application are also mentioned, and the potential of processes for application is explained.