In order to have a good understanding of the sterilization and nutrient retention effects of pulsed electric field(PEF) on pear juice

this paper proposed the use of pulsed electric field to carry out non-thermal sterilization of simulated bacterial suspensions and freshly squeezed pear juice

and investigated the sterilization kinetics of both by PEF

and analyzed the nutrient qualities of pear juice. The results showed that

for the simulated bacterial suspension equipped with the conductivity of freshly squeezed pear juice as a reference

the bactericidal effect of PEF on the bacterial suspension is enhanced with the increase of the externally applied voltage and time parameters; when the gap voltage is 20 kV

the frequency is 100 Hz

the pulse width is 3 μs

and the macroscopic treatment time is 120 s

the bactericidal efficiency reaches 99.99%

and the bacterial lethality is more than 4 logarithms. Under the treatment parameters above

a 3 logarithmic bactericidal effect on freshly squeezed pear juice is obtained

Moreover

the nutritional quality of pear juice was evaluated

and the colour difference ΔE of PEF-treated pear juice is only 0.60

with 100% retention of nutrient content and a shelf life of more than 49 days

which is of a significant advantage compared with the traditional low-temperature pasteurization technology.