Effects of combined HHP and heat treatment on viscosity attributes and microbiological condition of liquid egg yolk

Minimal processing technologies, like High Hydrostatic Pressure (HHP), heat treatments at low temperatures have an increasing role in food industry. Eggs are considered as functional foods, but for high retention of biological active compounds adequate minimal processing technologies are needed during preservation procedure. In our study, liquid egg yolk (LEY) was examined to meet consumer's expectations.Combinations of pasteurization (57–63 °C, 5–7 min) and HHP (350–400 MPa, 5 min) were used to provide microbiological stability of LEY. After these treatments samples were examined for mesophyll aerobes and Enterobacteriaceae cell counts (using Nutrient agar an incubation of 30 °C, 48 h) and viscosity attributes (Anton Paar MCR 92).Our results show that microbiological stability is significantly influenced by the different parameters of heat treatments and HHP. Heat treatment effected at least 3 orders of magnitude decrease in cell count. Viscosity attributes point out that higher pressure of HHP have a stronger effect on viscosity than the temperature of pasteurization.The results point out a great opportunity for industrial use of minimal processing technologies for LEY. Microbiological safety is strongly influenced by the order of treatments, but viscosity may be independent from the order of the treatments.