Low-moisture foods, such as nuts, spices and peanut butter, have been considered low risk for foodborne illness because they are eaten in a dry state.
While microbial growth isn't possible, bacteria can survive on the product for a long time.
Current pasteurization methods take time and can hurt quality of the food product. UNL research will focus on improving and developing technologies to kill bacteria while not affecting food quality.
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"You don’t need a million bacteria to cause illness; as few as 10 cells can cause illness," said Harshavardhan Thippareddi, UNL Department of Food Science and Technology professor and Nebraska Extension food safety specialist.
Jeyamkondan Subbiah, Kenneth E. Morrison Distinguished Professor of Food Engineering with the biological systems engineering and food science and technology departments said research isn't where it needs to be because people have always thought low moisture products were safe.
Subbiah's research will look at radio frequency and extrusion processing of the low-moisture products to inactivate the bacteria.
Traditional heating will heat the product from outside to inside and technology using electromagnetic waves such as radio frequency waves will volumetrically heat the product.
UNL said the impact on food quality is minimal because food can be more evenly heated throughout the product to inactivate bacteria.