Physico-chemical properties of fruit and vegetable juices as affected by pulsed electric field: a review

Treatment of fruit and vegetable juices with pulsed electric field (PEF) process is one of the promising non-thermal technologies with the great potential for microbial and enzymes inactivation, shelf-life extension, and preservation of nutritional, vitamins, aroma compounds and sensorial attributes. The present review study summarized the influence of PEF treatment on the physical and chemical parameters, color change, bioactive compounds and sensorial attribute of apple, carrot, citrus, grape, peach, pomegranate, watermelon and tomato juices. The PEF treatment resulted increase of juice yield of pressing with lower non-enzymatic browning. PEF treatment can be applied in fruit and vegetable juices industry to improving physicochemical properties, rheological behavior and antioxidant capacity of juices. PEF processed juices retained more vitamins, ascorbic acid, carotenoid, anthocyanins, lycopene and organoleptic characteristics (appearance, flavor, taste, aftertaste, color and overall acceptance) than thermally processed juice; of course, in some juices, the sensorial attributes and physicochemical properties were not affected by the PEF treatment. High intensity pulsed electric field (HIPEF) process is efficient enough to inactivation of microorganisms and enzymes (pectinmethylesterase (PME), polyphenoloxidase and peroxidase) in fruit and vegetable juices at levels equivalent to heat treatment, consequently improved shelf life and quality of the preserved juices. The application of PEF can save a considerable amount of time and increase production efficiency. Therefore, PEF technology could be an alternative to thermal treatment to obtain fruit and vegetable juices with high nutritional quality and good sensorial attributes.