Challenges and opportunities of non-conventional technologies concerning food safety

SUMMARY Consumers are more conscious of both the quality and microbial safety of the food they eat. Therefore, their demand for safe food and food products has motivated researchers to develop non-conventional processing technologies. Numerous investigations have shown the effectiveness of high-pressure processing, ultraviolet, pulsed light, ultrasonic sterilisation, pulsed electric field, irradiation, and cold plasma to produce safe and high-quality products compared to conventional processes. This review aims to summarise the advanced applications of these promising non-conventional thermal technologies to provide safe and high-quality food products. Many innovative strategies have been proposed as an alternative to conventional technologies, normally applied to reduce pathogenic microbes. This study presents some potential non-conventional technologies that show emerging microbial decontamination abilities for improving finished food products’ freshness, safety and multiplication. It also summarises the inactivation mechanism of foodborne pathogens, which presents an outline of the effects on finished food product quality based on microbiological and physicochemical perspectives. The key advantage of these technologies is their potential to inactivate foodborne microorganisms without affecting the nutritional value of food products. These technologies are gradually entering the food industry due to technological advances and low investment costs. A comprehensive study is critical to keep abreast of these technologies’ merits, application scope and recent developments to ensure food products satisfy consumer demands while maintaining the highest quality and safety standards.