Purpose: Sickness from Cronobacter had been rising recently and often affects babies and older adults, Therefore, the development of new rapid control technology to kill Cronobacter bacteria in infant dried powdered foods/formulas is warranted.
Methods: Set the vibratory feeder speed at vibratory power 25% (7.6 cm/s), 20% (5.1 cm/s), & 15%(2.5 cm/s) respectively, so that IPL treatments were performed for a total time at 10 s, 15 s, and 30 s, at the distances between quartz window and IPL chamber were ~10.8 & 16 cm.
Results: The preliminary results and simulations show more than 3 log reductions of Cronobacter sakazakii. Temperature and powder water activity may also affect IPL inactivation.
Significance: Firstly, although IPL has been tested for many foods, there is no continuous IPL system commercially available for disinfection of powdered foods. The researchers proposed a number of mechanisms to enable continuous IPL treatment of powdered foods. Secondly, the project takes a systematic approach to evaluate not only the engineering and microbiological aspects of the technology but also the impacts of the process on physical, chemical, nutritional, and sensory properties of the products being treated.