Interaction and multi‐objective effects of multiple non‐thermal treatments of sour cherry juice: pesticide removal, microbial inactivation, and quality preservation

BACKGROUND: The consumption of pesticide-contaminated sour cherries as fruit or juice has become a major health concern, and so the search for alternative processing technologies, such as pulsed electric fields (PEF), ozone (O), and ultrasonication (US) has intensified. The objectives of this experimental study of sour cherry juice were fourfold: (1) to quantify the removal efficiency of new processing technologies (PEF, O, US), and their combinations, for the pesticides chlorpyrifos ethyl, τ-fluvalinate, cyprodinil, pyraclostrobin, and malathion; (2) to detect their impact on physical, bioactive, and sensory properties; (3) to determine their microbial inactivation levels for Escherichia coli O157:H7, Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas syringae subs. Syringae, and Penicillum expansum; and (4) to jointly optimize multiple responses of physical, quality, and sensory properties, pesticides, and microbial inactivation. RESULTS: for 655 μs), PEF2 + O + US, US, and PEF2 + O as the five best treatments. PEF2 + O + US best achieved both pesticide removal and microbial inactivation. CONCLUSION: PEF2 + O + US provided promising reductions in pesticide and microbial loads.