Novel, Nonthermal, Energy Efficient, Industrially Scalable Hydrodynamic Cavitation – Applications in Food Processing

Recently, a new novel nonthermal technology being investigated is Hydrodynamic Cavitation (HC), which can be used for sterilization of liquid foods such as liquid beverages (water, juices, milk), homogenization, emulsification, enhanced extraction, with minimal loss of bioactive compounds. This novel technology has potential to reduce the detrimental effect that conventional thermal treatments have on liquid foods sensory and physio-chemical and nutritional properties. This is due to the formation, growth and collapse of cavities occurring in HC in milliseconds releasing large amounts of energy causing physical stresses on the microbial cell and thus sterilization without significant rise in temperature preserving liquid foods nutrients. Novel food processing technologies should be tested for reducing energy consumption, achieving microbial lethality at reduced temperature and maintaining fresh-like product quality. The present review briefs on various applications of HC in food processing.