Decontamination efficiency of high power ultrasound in the fruit and vegetable industry, a review.

Decontamination of fresh fruits and vegetables is an important unsolved technological problem. The main focus of this review is to summarize and synthesize the results of studies and articles about ultrasonic processing which can be adapted to the wash water decontamination process for fruits and vegetables. This review will also provide an overview about the importance of an effective wash water decontamination process in fruits and vegetables, the increase of foodborne outbreaks caused by fresh fruits and vegetables, microbial inactivation using ultrasound, and an interpretation of the high power ultrasound results in the fruits and vegetable industry. In addition, the limitations of ultrasonic processing in commercial applications have also been introduced.