Perspectives of high-pressure technology in probiotic food production: A comprehensive review

Due to their health benefits, the growing demand for functional foods, including probiotics, is driving the market. Although several probiotic foods are available, their incorporation presents challenges due to the sensitivity of probiotics to processing conditions. Thus, the adoption of non-thermal technologies for microencapsulation and processing, such as high pressure, has been increasingly studied to preserve strains' viability and resistance. There are types of processing: high-pressure homogenization (HAP) and high hydrostatic pressure processing (HPP), depending on the pressure values applied and their specific purposes. This review explored the potential of high-pressure (HP) technology as an alternative to heat treatments for developing probiotic foods containing free and microencapsulated microorganisms, considering recent searches in ScienceDirect, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar. This technology increases the viability and resistance of probiotics during processing, improving their functionality, maintaining the nutritional and sensory properties of the food, inactivating pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms and enzymes, and increasing the safety and shelf life of the food, being efficient for the microencapsulation of probiotics, providing them with protection and stability and enabling the development of innovative functional products. New wall materials such as natural polysaccharides and vegetable proteins have been studied for high-pressure microencapsulation, standing out for their biocompatibility, biodegradability, food safety, and desirable functional properties. HP technology presents itself as a promising alternative in developing probiotic foods from plant or animal matrices, considering free or microencapsulated microorganisms, enabling the development of a functional, safe, stable, innovative, and high-quality food.