Consumers nowadays are demanding for clean and safe food without disrupting the nutritional and sensory qualities of food. To extend the shelf life of food, various thermal treatments are applied during processes. However, the nutritive and sensory qualities of the commodity may suffer as a result of these thermal processes. Consumers today demand food that is not only safe and wholesome, but also has good organoleptic qualities. This is why the development and advancement of non-thermal technologies that are secure, safe, and environmentally friendly have captured the attention of the food industry. In non-thermal processing technology the food is processed in room temperature, this reduces damage to food because heat-sensitive nutritious material stays intact in the food in contrary to thermal processing of food. These non-thermal technologies can be utilized for processing all kinds of food like fruits, vegetables, spices, pulses, meat, fish, etc. Non-thermal technologies have emerged largely in the last few decades in food sector. These methods of food processing achieve microbial inactivation without damaging the food's nutritional content or sensory qualities. They also increase product shelf life and preserve the fresh-like physical, nutritional, and sensory qualities of the food. These cutting-edge technologies, such as high hydrostatic pressure, pulsed electric fields, high-intensity ultrasound, ultraviolet light, pulsed light, ionising radiation, and oscillating magnetic fields, can inactivate microorganisms to varying degrees. With only minor nutritional losses, all food types, including fruits, vegetables, pulses, spices, meat, fish, etc., can be processed using these non-thermal technologies. Non-thermal technologies have grown in importance in the food industry over the last few decades. As a result, there is a need to research and develop these non-thermal technologies because they are becoming more and more important in the food industry.

Preservation, Food Technology, Microorganisms, Food Safety and Inactivation.

New preservation technologies are an interesting option to produce high quality food products with an extended shelf life. The starting point of an evaluation of the possibilities of new technologies will thus be the effect on quality combined with the safety of the product after processing. Irradiation, ultrasound under pressure, HHP and PEF are effective procedures to inactivate vegetative micro-organisms in foods, but the high adaptability of spores limits their use as a sole system for food preservation. Thus, these new technologies are chancing usages as hurdles that assure food safety through microbial inactivation in minimally reused high quality products. To completely exploit their potentiality, further exploration work is demanded to clarify mechanisms of inactivation, especially for HHP and PEF, to more understand the effect of environmental factors, and the circumstance of stress adaption and sub-lethal injury, aspects of great applicability regarding food safety. Further, interest in non-thermal food processing technologies has increased appreciably in the once decade. Also, minimum processing ways similar as ultraviolet (UV) light treatment meet these conditions. The use of UV- C light treatment proved to be effective at reducing microbial loads of pathogens on fresh fruits and vegetables. Current limitations of arising non-thermal technologies can be overcome when they are combined with conventional preservation styles. Especially using advanced or lower temperatures than room temperature is an intriguing option to increase the effectiveness of new technologies.

Anupama Anand, Manisha Kaushal, Devina Vaidya, Anil Gupta, Harpreet Kaur Saini, Ruchi Sharma, Chahat Thakur, Anjali Gautam, Dileep K.C., Ankita Sharma, Rashi and Suprava Basnett (2022). Advances in Non-thermal Technologies in Food Processing: A Review. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(2): 1419-1428.