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With the global population steadily increasing, there is a growing demand for nutrient-dense foods that are safe, affordable, and widely accessible. In response, the food industry is actively exploring and implementing various next generation of alternative food processing and sanitation technologies.
This presentation explores the key drivers behind the adoption of emerging technologies such as high- pressure processing (HPP), pulsed electric fields (PEF), microwave processing, ultrashear technology (UST), and superheated steam. We begin by outlining the fundamental principles behind each technology, followed by an in-depth discussion of factors that influence industry adoption—including microbiological efficacy, regulatory considerations, consumer perception, and cost-efficiency.
These novel technologies enable the food industry to enhance food safety and meet consumer demand for high-quality nutritious processed foods without excessive heat or synthetic preservatives. However, significant barriers to widespread adoption remain, including high initial investment costs, lack of standardization, and existing knowledge gaps.
Finally, we will emphasize the critical need for collaboration among academic researchers, industry stakeholders, equipment manufacturers, and policymakers to facilitate broader industrial implementation. The presentation will also highlight the importance of sustained, long-term investment in research and development, particularly through academic-industrial partnerships, to foster innovation and support the development of the next-generation workforce.
They are utilized in a number of applications such as sterilization, pasteurization, decontamination, and extraction. Introducing safe food products processed by these alternative technologies, proper validation studies followed by verification and monitoring are required and/or recommended.
Data collection followed by scientific evaluation of all the critical processing points should render an answer whether a given product will be safe and at the same time economically feasible. Microorganisms of concern should be identified as well as proper surrogates; predictive microbial inactivation mathematical models must be developed; suitable protocols should be implemented as well as some specific test to satisfy a performance criterion that will allow us to reach a food safety objective (FSO).
Once these requirements are fulfilled, the implementation and later on, possible adoption at the industrial level of these alternative food processing technologies will pose additional challenges that are not trivial, and many times not possible to circumvent.
This presentation deals with how some of these challenges have been addressed and what is ahead to keep making alternative processes that would successfully replace or supplement classic ones.
Professor of Food Engineering
College of Food Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Ohio State University
Professor of Food Engineering, College of Food Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University (OSU), Columbus, Ohio. Before joining OSU in 2002, he served as an Associate Professor (Research) at the National Center for Food Safety and Technology (NCFST), an industry-FDA-University consortium at the Illinois Institute of Technology (1995-2002). He also completed postdoctoral research at the University of Georgia from 1994 to 1995. Dr. Bala’s research and industrial outreach efforts focuses on the development of innovative, sustainable advanced alternative processing and sanitation technologies aimed at enhancing food safety, quality, and human health. Technologies investigated include aseptic processing, high pressure pasteurization and sterilization, ultrashear technology (UST) for pasteurization, sterilization and beverage blending, ohmic heating, pulsed electric field processing, superheated steam and UV.
Dr. Bala (ORCID 0000-0002-1540-4273) has authored 140 peer-reviewed publications, 30 book chapters, 24 bulletins and technical reports, 6 food processor fact sheets, 6 patents/invention disclosures, and 5 webinars. He has also co-edited 4 books on food processing. In addition, Dr. Bala has delivered approximately 270 presentations at meetings organized by professional societies, universities, trade associations, and the food industry. According to Thomson Reuters’ Web of Science, Dr. Bala has an h-index of 42, with 5,910 citations. A recent survey by Stanford University recognized Dr. Bala as being among the world’s top 2% of scientists. Dr. Bala has supported his research and industrial outreach through over $10.6 million in funding from various federal and industrial competitive grant programs.
Dr. Bala teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses on Unit Operations in Food Processing and Engineering and co-teaches a general education course on the Sustainability of the Food Supply Chain. Additionally, he currently serves as the instructor for the Spring 2025 Department of Food Science and Technology Seminar Series.
Dr. Bala’s industrial outreach and extension efforts focus on disseminating research findings to various industry and regulatory stakeholders pilot plant demonstrations, webinars, presentations, and short courses. He has contributed to numerous advanced food processing workshops and short courses hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and the European Federation of Food Science and Technology (EFoST).
Dr. Bala was a recipient of 2021 IFT Research and Development Award and elected Fellow of IFT, IUFoST, and ISAE. He is currently serving as the Editor-in-Chief of Wiley’s Journal of Food Process Engineering. Dr. Bala is a member of the USDA National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board.
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