Doctoral candidate Sally Flowers prepares a meat sample for use in a device that simulates stomach conditions. Flowers works with Cathy Cutter, who specializes in the microbial safety of meats.

While maintaining the taste and nutritional value of foods, high-pressure processing could pave the way for value-added premium products with high consumer appeal. Anantheswaran also sees a lot of potential for the technology in responding to the rising popular demand for raw, unpasteurized milk, alone or in cheeses and other foods. Growing ethnic populations in Pennsylvania, he says, mean Hispanics and others are bringing a taste for raw milk to the state. High-pressure processing can help bridge the gap between popular tastes and food safety, he says.

“A lot of raw milk is consumed in Pennsylvania,” he says. “Many people aren’t used to the flavor of pasteurized milk and would rather replace it with raw milk. Some cheeses—moist, soft cheeses like brie, Camembert, and queso blanco—are made from raw milk. With this process, we can safely use raw milk to make cheeses without destroying the product’s uniquely fresh flavor.”

High-pressure processing has limitations. While it can destroy harmful microbes, pressure sometimes only renders the spores by which they reproduce inactive. Therefore, shelf-stable foods must be high in acid for the technology to be effective. Because the technique also has limited and varied effects on some food enzymes, such as polyphenoloxidase, which is responsible for browning in fruits and vegetables, blanching may be needed. In addition, high pressure can contents, so careful product hese types of foods.

Cost is also a factor, as this method is more expensive than traditional heat processing. “For most uses, 99 times out of 100, heat is still the best and easiest way,” Anantheswaran says. “But this process has great potential for some specific functions.”

As research continues on high-pressure processing and other nonthermal technologies, it has drawn together researchers from other departments in natural collaborations. Faculty in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering participate in research projects, and the departments share facilities and equipment. “These are interdisciplinary projects that combine basic and applied research,” says Anantheswaran.

Making food safer while maintaining its quality also was the goal for food scientist Cathy Cutter when meat processors began to call about jerky. The popularity of low-carbohydrate diets and Americans’ hunger for more protein have fueled a surge in the popularity of jerky. The dried-meat snack market is growing 20 to 30 percent annually, with last year’s sales topping $305 million. Jerky is now trendy, gourmet, and upscale, so small, local meat processors are sitting on regional-specialties gold mines.

But recent outbreaks of listeriosis, salmonellosis, and E. coli O157:H7 have brought new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations on jerky production, which means more than 400 small and very small meat packers, butchers, and other processors across the state are likely to interact with Cutter, who specializes in the microbial safety of muscle meats.