Non-thermal shelf-life extension of fresh Hummus by High Hydrostatic Pressure and refrigeration

Abstract Consumers are interested in fresher and minimally processed ready to eat foods, therefore this work aimed to investigate the efficacy of the of HHP of 600MPa for 6 minutes against Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica, and Escherichia coli O157:H7 in fresh hummus samples, and to study the significance of the combined treatment of HHP and refrigeration on the shelf life of Hummus samples. Results showed that a treatment of HHP at 600MPa for 6 minutes was able to achieve more than 5 log reductions of the tested pathogens, and about 4 logs for aerobic plate count (APC) and Yeast and Mold (YM), respectively. Moreover, pathogens remained undetectable during the period of refrigerated storage for 1 year, while APC and YM were increased to log 2.32 and <1 log, respectively. After 52 weeks of refrigerated storage, HHP treated samples showed no significant differences in respect to sensorial properties of hummus samples and remained microbiologically within the “High quality” standards according to the microbiological criteria of ready to eat foods.