A Comprehensive Review on Advances in Sustainable Non-Thermal Technologies for Liquid Food Safety and Quality Retention

The demand for sustainable food processing technologies has garnered significant interest in non-thermal alternatives to meet the increasing need for high-quality, minimally processed, and fresh liquid foods. The techniques such as ultraviolet light, ultrasonication, ozone, high-pressure processing, cold plasma, and pulsed electric field are instrumental in enhancing sustainability by reducing energy consumption. Apart from this, these techniques preserve the overall nutritional and organoleptic properties of liquid foods. This review explores the principles and working mechanisms of various non-thermal techniques. Further, it elaborates on the innovative applications of these novel techniques for microbial inactivation, quality enhancement, and shelf-life extension of different categories of liquid foods. The impact of non-thermal techniques on nutritional composition as well as bioactive compounds in liquid foods has been analyzed. Later, the concept of hurdle technology as a synergistic potential has been explored, emphasizing its potential to preserve the quality of liquid foods. The limitations and challenges of scaling to the industrial level and recent advancements in liquid food processing have also been highlighted.