Study on the microbial inactivation of whole hulless barley flour using a continuous instant pressure drop sterilizer

• Published in: Journal of food process engineering Vol. 45; no. 12
• Main Authors: Chen, Zhiying, Wang, Aixia, Qin, Wanyu, Xi, Huihan, He, Yue, Nie, Mengzi, Liu, Liya, Wang, Lili, Bai, Yajuan, Huang, Yatao, Wang, Fengzhong, Tong, Li‐Tao
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.12.2022
• Subjects: instant pressure drop; microbial inactivation; powdery foods; sterilizer; whole hulless barley flour
• ISSN: 0145-8876; 1745-4530
• DOI: 10.1111/jfpe.14169

This work evaluated the microbial reduction and quality change of the whole hulless barley flour (WHBF) treated by a continuous instant pressure drop (CIPD) sterilizer. The microbial reduction of WHBF was proportional to steam‐material ratio under the conditions of 165°C, 0.2 MPa steam, and 0.2 MPa Laval nozzle, and the microbial reduction was 3.87 ± 0.09 log cfu/g with the steam‐material ratio of 3.0:1. The work was followed‐up with the quality testing of CIPD, UV‐C, hot air, and ozone treated WHBF. The microbial reduction of hot air, UV‐C, and ozone treated WHBF was 3.98 ± 0.09, 3.33 ± 0.04, and 3.68 ± 0.12 log cfu/g, respectively, while the CIPD treatment achieved similar bactericidal effect at a unit treatment time of 22 s. Moreover, there is no measurable quality degradation in CIPD treated WHBF compared with the untreated WHBF. These results showed CIPD sterilizer had a great potential for microbial inactivation of powdery foods industry.