Effects of pulsed electric field on the sterilization and aging of fermented orange vinegar

Fermented orange vinegar was treated by pulsed electrical field (PEF) and the sterilization effect and physicochemical were studied under different PEF treatment conditions including time, frequency, pulse width and electric field intensity. Furthermore, a comparison was made with thermal pasteurization. In addition, the flavor compounds of untreated, PEF treated and naturally aged orange vinegar were analyzed to investigate the feasibility of accelerating aging by PEF. The best sterilizing effect was 5.24 log reduction at treatment time of300μs, frequency of 200 Hz, pulse width of 2μs and electric field intensity of 25 k V/cm, which was better than that of the thermal pasteurization. PEF processing also had a better protective effect on the physicochemical properties. GC-MS showed that the major flavor compounds such as ethyl acetate, isoamyl acetate, 3-methyl-1-butanol, acetoin, phenethyl alcohol increased at different levels having the same tendency as natural aging.The PEF treatment had good influence on sterilization and aging of the fermented orange vinegar and it had a broad application prospect in the processing of high-qualified vinegar.