Comparison of high pressure and thermal pasteurization on the quality parameters of strawberry products: a review

Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) is rich in bioactive compounds with high antioxidant activity. High pressure processing (HPP) is an efficient alternative to preserve these bioactive compounds in terms of microbial inactivation and shelf-life stability. This review compares the effects of pasteurization methods using high pressure or thermal pasteurization (TP) on the quality parameters of various strawberry-based products. To summarize, most of the high pressure-treated products are microbiologically stable and showed minimum degradation of thermolabile compounds than TP-treated ones. However, some studies reported that high pressure did not have an advantage over TP especially in the preservation of phenolic phytochemicals during storage. The insufficient enzyme inactivation and high residual activity of enzymes after high pressure treatment could cause anthocyanins degradation thus affecting the product quality. Overall, this review could be valuable to potential processors in evaluating the effective commercialization of high pressure-treated strawberry products.

Automated summary

Strawberry is rich in bioactive compounds with high antioxidant activity. High pressure processing (HPP) is an efficient alternative to preserve these compounds in terms of microbial inactivation and shelf-life stability. This review compares the effects of high pressure or thermal pasteurization (TP) on the quality parameters of strawberry-based products, showing that high pressure-treated products are microbiologically stable and have minimal degradation of thermolabile compounds, but may not be as effective as TP in preserving phenolic phytochemicals during storage.