FSE112 FOOD PRESERVATION, PROCESSING, AND SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL BIOLOGICAL AND

ANALYSIS MATERIALS ENGINEERING AND SCIENCES

MAPUA UNIVERSITY
4th Quarter SY 2020-2021

Advanced retorting, microwave

assisted thermal sterilization
(MATS), and pressure assisted
thermal sterilization (PATS) to
process meat products
Gustavo V. Barbosa-Cánovas, Ilce Medina-Meza, Kezban Candoǧan, and Daniela Bermúdez-Aguirre

A critique paper by:

Gabriele C. Joseph
Mary Alyssa T. Ortega
FSE112/E01

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 FSE112 FOOD PRESERVATION, PROCESSING, AND SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL BIOLOGICAL AND
ANALYSIS MATERIALS ENGINEERING AND SCIENCES
MAPUA UNIVERSITY
4th Quarter SY 2020-2021

Article reviewed:

G. V. Barbosa-Cánovas, I. Medina-Meza, K. Candoǧan, and D. Bermúdez-Aguirre, “Advanced retorting,

microwave assisted thermal sterilization (MATS), and pressure assisted thermal sterilization
(PATS) to process meat products,” Meat Science, vol. 98, no. 3. Elsevier Ltd, pp. 420–434, Nov.
01, 2014, doi: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2014.06.027.

The article, “Advanced retorting, microwave assisted thermal sterilization (MATS), and pressure
assisted thermal sterilization (PATS) to process meat products”, by Barbosa-Cánovas et al., which
comprises three different thermal processes that are assessed on its suitability for sterilization of meat
products. The authors have discussed the process and reliability of conventional methods of sterilization
which have given rise to opportunities of addressing emerging technologies with a more improved approach
towards the sterilization process in meat products. The title was made clear regarding the topic to be
discussed as it involves specific emerging technologies that were mentioned in the article.

The abstract of the article already stated the difference between conventional and new technologies
for sterilization of meat products and how the conventional methods affect the overall quality of meat
products. This statement gave the readers a clear introduction to the importance and purpose of having these
emerging technologies in the food industry. However, the authors have included that these technologies
require further work and study prior to their full acceptance in the food industry. This statement is important
for the readers to know and further research on the development of the said technologies for sterilization
processes after reading this article. It is important to give the readers opportunities to be curious and learn
more.

The conventional and alternative technologies were discussed in the introduction part of the article.
The authors have included the concepts and effects of these processes in the quality changes in food while
barely discussing the recent technologies as mentioned in the title. The purpose of the article was not
directly discussed in the introduction instead a detailed rundown of the effects on the physical and
biochemical properties of meat products during the thermal treatment was included. The article’s
introduction has somehow created a good build-up to present the novel thermal technologies that were
reviewed eventually in detail in the succeeding part of the article. Therefore, the readers may find some
parts of the introduction such as the conventional and alternative technologies, shown in sections 1.1 and
1.4, overemphasized and irrelevant to the study and may seek a more straightforward approach.

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 FSE112 FOOD PRESERVATION, PROCESSING, AND SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL BIOLOGICAL AND
ANALYSIS MATERIALS ENGINEERING AND SCIENCES
MAPUA UNIVERSITY
4th Quarter SY 2020-2021

Since the study involves emerging technologies, their acceptance for commercial use is important.
The article contains accurate information i.e., year of approval, about the technologies having fully accepted
by the Food and Drug Administration. The article has also stated the struggle to obtain the approval of the
FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for microwave assisted thermal sterilization (MATS) for different
foods. All the references used were relevant and were all worth checking for a deeper understanding on this
field of study. Overall, there were no errors mentioned in the article however some parts can be summarized
further or explained in a more concise manner.

The author’s statements were not that difficult to grasp. The keywords given were remarkably
defined as the author gathered enough resources to thoroughly explain the given processes such as
sterilization, PATS, MATS, Retorting, and other emerging food processing technologies. The author has
not been objective in his discussion. The article does not show any underlying assumptions, since the
results and discussions of various studies were provided, therefore, the author did not need to propose an
idea to be tested. However, the author did provide the limitation from previous studies, which can be
focused on and utilize in future experiments. An example is a discussion from 1.1 Conventional sterilization
methods, which says that the aseptic process offers advantages since food undergoes less deterioration,
processing times are shorter, reduces energy consumption, and the quality of the treated product is improved
and more uniform. However, it has the inability to process placeable food products such as fillet, semi-solid
foods like tuna in chunks. The material of the packaging is also expensive and available to limited shapes
and capacities, and fillers are seen to lack versatility. In section 1.4 Alternative technologies, it states that
these technologies, so far, unable to sterilize foods, limiting their application to pasteurization and
decontamination processes. This article is recommendable not just because it presents various typical and
new technologies, but it also gives what the technology lacks which can be beneficial for researchers.

The objective of this article is to show a review of fundamental and applied aspects of these new
and very promising approaches to sterilization of meat products. The objective of this article is important
to the field to provide new ways to process the foods of the future. This also gives new knowledge for other
researchers focusing on this field. Based on observation, the article successfully gave the appropriate
information on sterilizing food products. It is an advantage to know various technologies that can sterilize
food specifically in the processing of meat and meat products. The article states that the mentioned
technologies are fully approved by the FDA, yet some of them receive skepticism from the food industry.
It is agreeable that the food industry is on guard in trusting new technologies, mainly for sterilization
purposes as it cannot afford to sell products that might not be properly processed. Just like Microwave
assisted thermal sterilization (MATS) and Pressure assisted thermal sterilization (PATS), they offer shorter

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 FSE112 FOOD PRESERVATION, PROCESSING, AND SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL BIOLOGICAL AND
ANALYSIS MATERIALS ENGINEERING AND SCIENCES
MAPUA UNIVERSITY
4th Quarter SY 2020-2021

processing times than advanced retorting, which is already adopted by the food industry. MATS is known
to be an appealing technology for sterilizing future foods, allowing in-container processing, and offer better
nutrient retention than conventional technologies. There are advantages in using microwave energy,
however, they also experience several challenges that should be overcome to be fully utilized. The review
states that the main problem is the lack of uniformity of the electromagnetic field distribution. Another
problem is the edge overheating effect, and these limitations are responsible for failing to sterilize foods
using microwave systems. PATS expands the use of high-pressure processing (HPP) to achieve very safe
foods of superior quality. One of the consequences of HPP on quality attributes is the negative effect on the
color of fresh meats as it decreases the total myoglobin content and increases metmyoglobin content. MATS
and PATS showed a better-quality product, but they need to get the trust of the food industry since they are
very skeptical about changing the ways of foods being processed. Due to these statements, it can be clearly
said that these new technologies just need further work to be approved in the future to sterilize food
products. The article shows an advantage in knowing the flaws of each technology, for future developers
and researchers to be aware of its limitations to avoid errors during the process of developing the technology
further. The experimental methods were very well defined. It also provided images of the technologies and
tables being used which makes the process and results uncomplicated to visualize.

Overall, the given procedures from this article are not enough for readers to duplicate. This article
only discussed different technologies that sterilize food, specifically for meat, and how the process of this
technology works. Even if the methods are not fully detailed, the article has several sources which can be
utilized for new literature review or study, if one wants to see that experiment specifically for them to
completely understand the process. The figures, tables, and graphs were properly assembled and were easy
to find. The flow of the article is well organized and relevant, and it also provides a table for the contents
which makes it uncomplicated to figure out which section are you reading about, making it less confusing
when a new topic arrives. It can make more readers be engaged in reading the article, as it gives good
examples like from section 2.2 as the authors discuss the process of chicken breast in gravy by advance
retorting. The article is well-written, as readers can see the importance of developing new technologies for
future foods and identify its limitations. The article is very inspirational, as you can see how far our
technologies have gone. This can be a boost for future developers in continuing to advance the given
technologies and develop a better quality of food.

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