Simulation and Experimental Study of Moderate Electric Field (MEF) Effects on Inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes and Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Surimi Paste

The present study evaluated the efficacy of moderate electric fields (MEFs) treatments against surimi, an intermediate seafood protein product, to enhance microbial safety and food quality at mild temperatures and electric field strength. The pathogens that have been associated with seafood, such as Listeria monocytogenes and Vibrio parahaemolyticus, were selected and investigated under varying conditions of applied MEF duty cycle (DC, 50 or 100% square-wave form with 20 kHz at 34 V/cm), temperature (20–60 °C), and treatment time (up to 10 min) against different surimi concentrations (10–20%). Microbial reductions in both L. monocytogenes and V. parahaemolyticus significantly increased with elevated temperature at higher duty cycle, and a maximum log reduction of 7.2 and 5.9 was achieved at 60 °C under both DC50% and 100% after 10 min, respectively. The potential MEF-induced inactivation of quality-deteriorating enzymes in fish products, including trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) reductase, serine- and cysteine- proteases, was numerically evaluated based on enzyme-specific electrophoretic temperature rise. Overall, these findings highlight MEF as a promising hurdle technology for enhancing both microbial safety and enzyme control in marine-based protein products.