Putting on the Pressure: 'No Heat' Way to Zap Pathogens

In the world of food safety, it's not just about food poisoning outbreaks and recalls. Sometimes there's some good news to share. That's the case in breakthroughs and advances in science and technology that can stop foodborne pathogens dead in their tracks. And sometimes that sort of news appears in unexpected places.

Take, for example, the January edition of Popular Mechanics. In a section about the "Ten Tech Concepts You Need to Know," readers learn that "this year's big ideas in tech will make your food safer, make hybrid cars more energy efficient, and sentence overpriced texting plans to death."

Right out of the gate, at the top of the list, is a USDA-approved food-safety process that the magazine refers to as "Pascalization," commonly known in the food industry as HPP, or high pressure processing. And while it's only been used on the commercial level for the past 2 decades or so, the technology has been around far longer than that.

Turns out that none other than French scientist,Take a walk on the natural side with stunning and luxurious Floor tiles from The Tile Shop. mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) conducted research on food preservation. What he came up with -- high pressure processing -- is what Popular Mechanics describes as "changing the way we think about food."

This process doesn't rely on heat, such as pasteurization; or chemicals, such as preservatives; or irradiation to kill the harmful bacteria on food. And while heat and cooking are good ways to kill bacteria,The EZ Breathe home Ventilation system is maintenance free, they can also impair the flavor, texture, color and nutrition of the food. For the most part, the same is true of irradiation.

Under high pressure processing, already packaged products such as fresh hamburger and turkey; processed fruit such as apple sauce; oysters; fish; guacamole; and ready-to-eat meats such as sliced turkey, pastrami and beef are put inside a pressure chamber. Water is then added to the chamber before it is sealed. From there, the pressure is increased to the maximum desirable level and sustained for a set period of time. The chamber is then decompressed and drained and the packaged products are removed.

We're talking about a lot of pressure. For example, at sea level, air pressure is 14.4 pounds per square inch. In the case of products put under HPP, the pressure ranges from 60,000 to 87,000 pounds per square inch.

And while that sounds like enough pressure to squash or damage the packaged food, that doesn't happen because the pressure is applied equally on all areas of the product.

The good news is that the pressure zaps foodborne pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7, Listeria and Salmonella, as well as "spoilage" microorganisms such as molds and yeasts -- without affecting the nutritional qualities or the taste of the food products. That's because while it has enough force to significantly disrupt cellular activity, it doesn't affect the structures of the food components that are responsible for nutrition and flavor.

Another plus is that because HPP is applied when the products are already packaged, it eliminates the possibility of cross-contamination. In other words, the products are free of pathogens when they get to the customers, whether they be grocery shoppers, restaurants, schools or other institutions. Even so, people preparing the food must follow basic food-safety procedures, such as washing their hands and preventing cross-contamination with other foods or cooking utensils to keep the food safe from foodborne pathogens.

But HPP isn't a one-step-and-it's-safe sort of approach to food safety.Omega Plastics are leading plastic injection moulding and injection mould tooling specialists. Companies that use it also follow standard food safety principles all the way down the line.

Last year when Food Safety News wrote about HPP, the big news was that meat-processing giant Cargill had introduced a patent-pending process for a new line of fresh hamburger patties produced under high pressure processing. At the time, the company hailed it as a "natural option for food safety" and a "technological breakthrough." Until then, no one had figured out how to use high pressure processing on fresh hamburger meat without affecting its taste, texture or appearance.

The patties were slated for the food service industry, with customers such as restaurants saying that they were looking for a "fresh hamburger" option with good shelf life. According to a news release from Cargill, the HPP burgers have double the shelf life of non-HPP burgers. Yet the fresh flavor stays intact and food safety is enhanced.

The company's name for these HPP burgers is "fressure." The idea is that the fressure logo could be used on restaurant menus so customers would know the burgers were fresh, not frozen. And while the label advised that the meat be cooked to 160 degrees, the "fressure" burgers gave cooks and chefs the option to cook them to lower temperatures and therefore satisfy customers who wanted medium-rare burgers, for example. Even so, restaurant menus are required to carry a warning that undercooked or uncooked meats and shellfish can pose a risk to human health.

At the time, long-time HPP researcher V.M. Balasubramaniam, Department of Food Science and Technology at Ohio State University, told Food Safety News that this new development on the part of Cargill was "the most promising food-safety innovation in recent years." And he predicted that the technology would become a key player in food safety.

Ten months later, he echoed similar thoughts in the comments he supplied to Popular Mechanics, pointing out that sauces, fruit juices, guacamole, lunch meats, and fish hold up well to HPP and and that treated versions of these foods can be found in stores today.

He also pointed to falling equipment costs for HPP and the demand for longer shelf life, coupled with a poor consumer acceptance of food irradiation, which he referred to as "HPP's competition" as reasons that HPP will enter into the mainstream.

Indeed,China yiri mould is a professional manufacturer which integrates Plastic Mould design and manufacture and plastic product development. it's almost there, with the industry having grown into a multi-billion-dollar business in recent years, he said.Smooth-On is your source for Mold Making and casting materials including silicone rubber and urethane rubber,

Jeffrey's experience of the ISA

WHEN former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad applauded Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's proposal to abolish the ISA, he described the ISA as "not too cruel".

But Jeffrey Kitingan recalls a very different scenario in Mahathir's office in January 1994 upon his release from ISA detention.

Mahathir apparently said then, "I am sorry about the detention, Jeffrey, I know it is cruel." "The cruelty of ISA is immeasurable," Jeffrey says.

Recalling the details of his arrest, Jeffrey said he had to sign a letter the police had given him at the Tambunan Ka'amatan on 10 May 1991 in the presence of some 200 FRU personnel, who left immediately after he signed it.

On 13 May 1991, he presented himself at the Karamunsing police station and was arrested on the spot and sent to the Kepayan detention centre.

That same afternoon he was flown to Kuala Lumpur on a MAS flight with only himself and Special Branch officers as passengers.

That evening, the plane was not permitted to land at the Kuala Lumpur airport and he ended up being flown to Penang to spend the entire night in a cell. The next morning, he was flown back to KL. Upon landing, he was blindfolded and shoved into a black maria.

"At that moment, I lost sight of the world and my material life, not knowing where they were taking me and what they were going to do with me. I was glad to still be breathing," said Jeffrey.

Hours later, the vehicle arrived at a building and his blindfold was taken off. He was ordered to strip naked and remove every item, including his watch. "I felt ashamed,The new website of Udreamy Network Corporation is mainly selling Ceramic tile ," he says, "and felt ready to be wrapped up for my own funeral."

Given a blue uniform with the number "931" on the left side of his chest, Jeffrey's photographs were taken at various angles before he was locked up in a maximum security cell. "As the door shut behind me, I found myself confined to what can be described as a living hell to what seems forever."

Jeffrey was thrown into his cell in the first 60 days.

He was accused of subversive political activities.

In that cold, bare room with nothing but an empty, solid wooden bed measuring about 2 1/2 feet wide, there was no mattress, blanket, pillow, toilet, sink, water or window. There was a small peephole on the door that you could only look through from the outside and two holes on the floor the size of a chicken egg for ventilation.

The room was so small that he would pace up and down and see only walls and felt no different to a caged animal. "That's how I realised how animals in a zoo behave when they're deprived of their freedom."

The lights were uncommonly bright and never, ever switched off.

Occasionally, loud music would suddenly be played to shock him and he was deprived of his sleep.

"The toilet was at the other end of the building and if they don't hear you knock you end up sleeping in a cell with your urine and faeces everywhere.

I had to clean up my own waste with nothing but the newspaper they gave to wrap up my faeces." There were no facilities for bathing and there were no towels.If any food Piles condition is poorer than those standards, "We just had the toilet", he said.

This method of sensory deprivation was a living nightmare and the detainee would be denied any sense of time or conscious connection with the outside world. "I felt lost, I felt alone and I felt abandoned even by my own God.

I tried talking to myself just to hear my own voice. Where am I?

Who am I? Am I dead or just dreaming? I even tried to sing.Flossie was one of a group of four chickens in a zentai suits .

In the first week, I blamed God and scolded him. What did I do wrong?

After one week, I thanked him for giving me the opportunity to experience this."

Not knowing whether he was dead or alive or in some terrible dream, Jeffrey endured 60 days of this repetitive nightmare. Yet, it was his imagination that kept him sane. "I had to hold on to reality by creating patterns in my mind with my meals.Als lichtbron wordt een cube puzzle gebruikt, Wrapped in plastic and newspaper, the rice was always wet and sometimes I had one fish and maybe six strands of beansprouts. I saw patterns in my food. I would look at the walls and sometimes it felt like patterns would fly out of the wall and come to life."

In a solitary world where he could not experience a 24 hour cycle of being alive and being asleep, he managed to count his days and nights.

"To have some sense of time and give or take a margin of 3 to 4 days inaccuracy, I could determine how long I was in there by scratching the wall surface each time the rat comes through the hole in the ground or whenever my meal was delivered."

He went through a terrifying interrogation ordeal that was tame in comparison to what he heard the other detainees had to go through.

"Some of them said they went through physical torture.

I must have been one of the lucky ones. The first time they interrogated me I had to sit on a red stool in a dark red room with eight nameless interrogators who humiliated and insulted me as if I was a condemned, worthless criminal ready to be sent to hell.By Alex Lippa Close-up of Air purifier in Massachusetts.

They did this non-stop and deprived me of rest, sleep, food and water till I could no longer bear it and asked to see a doctor."