Effect of Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) on Bacterial Viability and Whey Protein in the Processing of Raw Milk

There is growing concern regarding the nutritional value of processed food products. Although thermal pasteurization, used in food processing, is a safe method and is widely applied in the food industry, food products lack quality and nutritional value because of the high temperatures used during pasteurization. In this study, the effect of pulsed electric field (PEF) processing on whey protein content and bacterial viability in raw milk was evaluated by changing the PEF strength and number of pulses. For comparison, traditional pasteurization techniques, such as low-temperature long-time (LTLT), ultra-high temperature (UHT), and microfiltration (MF), were also tested for total whey protein content, bacterial activity, and coliforms. We found that, after treatment with PEF, a significant decrease in total bacterial viability of 2.43 log and coliforms of 0.9 log was achieved, although undenatured whey protein content was not affected at 4.98 mg/mL. While traditional pasteurization techniques showed total bacterial inactivation, they were detrimental for whey protein content: β-lactoglobulin was not detected using HPLC in samples treated with UHT. LTLT treatment led to a significant decrease of 75% in β-lactoglobulin concentration; β-lactoglobulin content in milk samples treated with MF was the lowest compared to LTLT and UHT pasteurization, and ~10% and 27% reduction was observed.