New opportunities and perspectives of high pressure treatment to improve health and safety attributes of foods. A review

High pressure (HP) treatment has emerged as a novel, additive-free food preservation technology. It has been scientifically and commercially proven that HP can produce microbially safe and stable products with improved quality characteristics such as enhanced flavor and color. Recent studies have focused on the effects of HP on health attributes and allergenic potential of foodstuff to develop the next generation of convenience foods. This review provides an overview on the current knowledge of HP treatment to improve the extraction and bioavailability of bioactive compounds, to reduce allergenicity, to retain essential fatty acids, to reduce the salt content, and to reduce formation of processing contaminants. HP has shown encouraging potential to manipulate the functionality, extractability, allergenicity and bioavailability of micronutrients and components in a diverse variety of foods. However, the underlying principles and mechanisms are not yet fully understood and warrant further investigation. More studies are needed to optimize HP treatment conditions and develop a mechanistic understanding of the impacts of HP on different bioactive compounds in food products with health benefits. This can open the doors to new HP applications in the food industry. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.