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Abstract
Consumers demand high quality, natural, nutritious, fresh appearance and convenient
meat products with natural flavour and taste and an extended shelf-life. To match
all these demands without compromising safety, in the last decades alternative non-thermal
preservation technologies such as HHP, irradiation, light pulses, natural biopreservatives
together with active packaging have been proposed and further investigated. They are
efficient to inactivate the vegetative microorganisms, most commonly related to food-borne
diseases, but not spores. The combination of several non-thermal and thermal preservation
technologies under the so-called hurdle concept has also been investigated in order
to increase their efficiency. Quick thermal technologies such as microwave and radiofrequency
tunnels or steam pasteurization bring new possibilities to the pasteurization of meat
products especially in ready to eat meals. Their application after final packaging
will prevent further cross-contamination during post-processing handling. The benefits
of these new technologies and their limitations in an industrial application will
be presented and discussed.