PRESENTATION

ON
HURDLE TECHNOLOGY
COURSE NAME: RECENT TRENDS IN FOOD ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

COURSE CODE : PFET102

PRESENTED BY:

MAITRAYEE DAS
HRIK BHATTACHARYA
UTPALAKSHYA DAS
SHIKHAPRIYOM GOGOI
 INTRODUCTION

What is Hurdle Technology?

 Combination of preservation which employ the use of two or

more hurdle or barrier to spoilage microbes in a balance and
judicious way.
 Used for shelf stable food products and IMF
 Evolved at “Federal center for meat research” Germany
 Leistner and Rodel in 1976
 Leistner- Father of Hurdle Technology
 HURDLE TECHNOLOGY

 It is the process/technology used for the preservation provide shelf

stability to a food product by laying hurdle which are difficult to
overcome by the micro-organism causing food spoilage and
poisoning. (Berwal, 1994)

 Also called
 combined process
 combined methods
 combination preservation
 combination technique or
 barrier technology
 Hurdle in a food- Substance or process inhibition
deteriorating process

aw (water
Preservativeactivity)
s
pH
(acidificat
ion)

Competitive
micro flora

HURDL
ES F (heat
treatment)

Modified
atmosphere

T (low
temperature)
Eh (reduced
oxygen
potential)
 Hurdle Technology

 High hydrostatic pressure

 High-intensity pulsed electric fields
 High-intensity pulsed light Additional Hurdles

 Oscillating magnetic fields

 Food irradiation
Important in the preservation of IMF & It can
control

HMF……… why? 3. Desired

fermentation
process

2. Food 1. Microbial
poisoning Spoilage
 PRINCIPLE OF HURDLE TECHNOLOGY

 Preservative factors or hurdles disturb the

homeostasis of microorganisms.
 Microorganisms should not be able to jump over all
the hurdles present in the food product.
 HIGH HEAT TREATMENT

1) PASTEURIZATION
 Mild heat treatment (e.g., 63oC for 30 min; 100oC for 12sec)
 High product quality destroys vegetative pathogens (disease-causing
microbes)
 Reduces total microbial load, increases shelf-life
 Does not destroy spores (dormant stage of some bacteria)
 Usually combined with other hurdles (e.g., refrigeration)

2) STERILIZATION
 Complete destruction of microorganisms
 Severe heat treatment (equivalent to several min at 121.1oC) destroys
spores
 Gives "shelf-stable" product
 Some nutrient, quality destruction (colour, flavour, texture)
 LOW TEMPERATURE

1) Refrigeration

Ideally 0⸰C to 4⸰C for most foods short-term preservation (days to weeks)
High product quality (fresh, minimally processed
Slows down microbial growth, respiration ,enzyme / chemical reactions
Some pathogens can grow (e.g., C. botulinum (typeE), Listeria).

2) Freezing

 Generally -18oC to -30oC

 Quality depends on product, time, temperature
 Long-term preservation (months to years).
 Stops microbial growth, respiration slows down chemical reactions
Must have good packaging.
3) Reduced water activity

 Pathogenic microorganisms cannot grow at aw < 0.86.

 Yeast & moulds cannot grow at aw <0.62.
 Free water can be removed by concentration, dehydration and
freeze drying.
 In general, the lower the aw, the longer thePotassiu
storage life
SodiummSucros
Glucos
Chloride
Fructo
chloride e
e Increase
se
substances
to reduce
d acidity
water
activity
 SIGNIFICANCE

Improves product quality and microbial safety.

Save Money, Energy & Several other Resources.

Foods remains stable & safe, high in sensory & nutritive

value due to gentle process applied.

 Doesn't effects the integrity of food pieces (fruits).

 Applicable in both Large & Small Industries.

 MECHANISM OF HURDLE TECHNOLOGY:

 The hurdle technology works in four different mechanisms, and they are as follows:

HOMEOSTASIS:

 Homeostasis is the tendency to uniformity and also stability in the internal status of organisms.

 In food preservation the homeostasis of microorganisms is a key phenomenon which deserves

much attention.

 Hurdle technology introduces hurdles such as preservatives, low water activity, etc to disturb
the internal status of microorganisms.

 If the homeostasis of these microorganisms is disturbed by preservative factors (hurdles) in

foods, they will not multiply, i.e. they remain in the lag-phase or even die before homeostasis
is repaired (re-established).
METABOLIC EXHAUSTION:

 This approach of hurdle technology is to create a hostile environment for the microorganisms
which would cause auto-sterilization of a food product.

 This was first observed in an experiment where liver sausage adjusted to different water
activities by addition of fat, salt and inoculated with Clostridium sporogenes and stored at
37ºC. Clostridial spores surviving heat treatment vanished at storage.

 This behavior led to an interesting observation that spore counts decrease in stable hurdle
technology foods during storage.

 When the storage temperature of the food during storage is elevated, antimicrobials are
present, and other conditions for microbial growth are brought to its threshold, the
microorganisms try to maintain their homeostatsis by using repair mechanisms and use up all
energy and metabolically get exhausted and die.

 When microorganisms die by exhausting their metabolic energy, the food is auto sterilized
making it more safe for consumption.
STRESS REACTIONS:

 Stress reactions are those reactions which occur when microorganisms generate stress
shock proteins to cope with external stress such as water activity, pH, oxidative
compounds, as well as starvation.

 These reactions are have non-specific effect so even a single stress can make these
microorganisms alert and generate stress shock proteins.

 The various responses of microorganisms to cope with stress may hamper this
approach of hurdle technology but activation of genes for synthesis of stress shock
proteins becomes difficult if different stresses are received at the same time.

 Dealing with exposure to multiple stresses, microorganisms need to generate several or

more protective stress shock proteins, which in turn make them metabolically
exhausted preserving the food by this approach of hurdle technology.
MULTI-TARGET PRESERVATION:

 Multitarget preservation of foods should be the ambitious goal for a gentle but most
effective preservation of foods.

 A synergistic effect could be achieved if the hurdles in a food hit, at the same time,
different targets (e.g., cell membrane, DNA, enzyme systems,etc.) within the microbial
cells and thus disturb the homeostasis of the microorganisms.

 Then repair of homeostasis and activation of stress shock proteins become more
difficult, so different hurdles hit different targets and achieve optimal microbial
stability.

 A mild and effective preservation of foods, i.e. a synergistic effect of hurdles, is likely
if the preservation measures are based on intelligent selection and combination of
hurdles taken from different target classes.
 Applications of Hurdle Technology in food products

 The hurdle technology makes minimal sensory and nutritional changes in the product which
makes the product more valuable and acceptable than obtained by conventional methods and
has become a boon for the efficient preservation of food products.

Dairy products :

 Hurdle technology has been applied in many dairy products to enhance their shelf life.

 Shelf stable paneer can be prepared by applying various hurdles such as pH, aw, preservatives and Modified
Atmosphere Packaging (MAP).

 Shelf life of hurdle treated paneer extended from one to twelve days at ambient temperature and six to
twenty days at refrigeration temperature.

 Brown peda , a traditional Indian heat desiccated milk khoa based product have also been prepared and
preserved through hurdle technology.
Fruits & Vegetables :

 Shelf-stable grated carrot products are developed using hurdle

technology.
1. Antimicrobials.
2. Partial dehydration.
3. Packaging in polymeric bags.

 To develop shelf stable RTE (Ready-To-Eat) intermediate moisture

pineapple with increased shelf life.

 Osmotic dehydration, infrared drying and gamma radiation can

successfully reduce the microbial load in pineapple slices increasing its
shelf life up to 40 days.
 Preservation of fresh scrapped coconut. Additives such as humectants,
acidulants and preservatives were used.

 The shelf life increased by one month at ambient temperature and by three
months at refrigerated temperature.

 Shelf stable high moisture grated papaya is also prepared by hurdle

technology. Hurdles like mild heat treatment, aw, pH reduction, and the
addition of preservatives.

 Shelf stable at ambient temperature for more than five months.

Fruit derived products :

 Some of the hurdles applied in fruit processing includes UV light, pulsed

light (PL), ultrasound (US), and high hydrostatic pressure (HHP).

 Sugarcane juice is preserved by using several potential hurdles.

 Hurdle or combined technology is also applied in the preservation of high

moisture fruit products such as:
1. Peach
2. Pineapple
3. Papaya
4. Mango
5. Banana.
Meat & Meat products:

 Inhibition of the growth of yeast and molds up to 12 days in

pork sausages.
 While the dipping of sausages into potassium sorbate solution
before packaging inhibited their growth up to 30 days.
 Shelf stable ready to eat pickle type spiced buffalo meat
products was also prepared and preserved by controlling
different hurdles.
1. pH
2. water activity
3. proximate composition
4. Soluble hydroxyproline
5. nitrite content
6. protein
 The hurdle treated keema was shelf stable and accepted up to the fifth day
unlike the conventionally prepared keema that is highly perishable and is
accepted only until the first day.

 Hurdles such as marination, cooking and glycerol have been applied in the
production of shelf stable chicken lollipop.
New Chemical and Biochemical Hurdles:

1. Organic acids:

 Acids and their salts are added to food to control the pH, to prevent
oxidation or to serve as preservatives.

 The preservative mechanism :

The undissociated acid enters the living cell and dissociates inside the cell.
The microorganism tries to maintain its internal pH, extruding the organic
acids or protons, using all its energy.

 Benzoate, propionate and sorbate are used as antimicrobials, lactate and

acetate in meat and meat products. Acetic, citric, propionic, malic,
fumaric, adipic and tartaric acids as acidulants.
 Antimicrobial activities of organic acids and esters on bacteria,
yeasts and moulds:
bacteria yeast mould
Acetic acid +++ ++ +
Propionic acid ++ +++ +++
Lactic acid ++ - -
+++: good
Sorbic acid ++ +++ +++ antimicrobial effect
Benzoic acid +++ +++ +++
++: moderate
Parabens +++ +++ +++
antimicrobial effect
Citric acid ++ + +
Malic acid + + + + : little antimicrobial
effect
Fumaric acid +++ + +
Tartaric acid - - + - : no antimicrobial
effect.
Adipic acid - - -
Glucono-delta- - - -
lactone
2. Plant-derived antimicrobials:

 For protection, plants have developed defence strategies, one of them

being the synthesis of numerous antimicrobial chemical compound.

 Preformed antibiotics : catechol, carvacrol, thymol and caffeic acid.

 Inactive precursors: alliin (in garlic) and sinigrin (in cabbage)

 Mode of action:

 Terpenes or phenols interfere with the cytoplasmic membrane,

resulting in changes in permeability of the cell.

 Inhibition of enzyme systems or even denaturing of enzymes.

 Some herbs/spices and other foods with known
antimicrobial activity and their active components:

plant Major active component

Basil, sweet Linalool, methyl chavicol
Oregano Carvacrol, thymol
Rosemary Camphor, 1,8-cineole, -pinene,
Linalool
Sage Thujone, 1,8-cineole, borneol,
camphor
Thyme Thymol, carvacrol
Olive Oleuropein
Cinnamon Cinnamic aldehyde, eugenol
Clove Eugenol
Cumin Cuminaldehyde
Cayenne/chilli Capsaicin
Citrus fruits (Orange) D-limonene, citral
3. Chitin/chitosan:

 Chitin is a polymer consisting of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine units linked by (1,4)

bonds.

 Chitosan is a deacetylated form of chitin obtained by treatment with strong

alkali.

 Mode of action:

 The positively charged chitosan(pH<6.3), interacts with the negatively charged

microbial cell membrane, leading to the leakage of intercellular constituents.

 Chelating with trace metal ions, binding of water and inhibition of various
enzymes.

 Chitosan is used in water purification/clarification, cosmetics , for

pharmaceutical use, for packaging films and in the food industry.
4. Antimicrobial enzymes:

 Lysozyme, lactoperoxidase and glucose oxidase are best known

antimicrobial enzymes.
 These can be either hydrolases degrading key components of the microbial
cell wall, or oxidoreductases, which generate smaller molecules, reactive
against the bacteria.
 Used as a preservative for cheese, meat, fruit, vegetables and wine.

5. Lactoferrin:

 An iron-binding glycoprotein found in mammalian milk, saliva, tears and

other secretions.
 Binds two Fe3+ions thereby inhibiting growth of bacteria depending on
free available iron.
 Lactoferrin is a surface decontamination of raw meat and possibly fish, fruit
and vegetables.
6. Ozone:
Ozone is an unstable molecule having a half-life of about 12 hours in gaseous form,
but only 20–25 minutes in aqueous solution.
A broad-spectrum bactericidal attacking the bacterial cell wall and outer membrane.
A strong oxidizer and highly reactive with other organic or inorganic compounds.
It is used for disinfect the water and to remove foul odour and organic/inorganic
impurities.

7. Electrolysed water:
Acid solution(pH<3,containing
EO(electrolysed oxidizing) highlyanreactive
water is produced by passing chlorine
NaCl solution based
across an
electrically charged membrane resulting in two different fractions.
compounds)
Alkaline solution(pH> 11, containing NaOH)
E.O. water

Acidic fraction’s antimicrobial mechanisms: low pH, chlorine or chlorine based

compounds and a high oxidation–reduction potential.
THANK YOU.