Hurdle Technology

Hurdle technology is a food safety strategy that combines several preservation techniques, each called a hurdle, so that together they eliminate or control the pathogens in a food product and extend its shelf life; the food scientist Leistner defined it in 2000 as an intelligent combination of hurdles that secures a food's microbial safety and stability along with its organoleptic and nutritional quality and its economic viability. Common hurdles include high processing temperatures, refrigerated storage, increased acidity, reduced water activity, lowered redox potential and preservatives, and not every hurdle is used at once or at the same intensity, since a more intense hurdle improves microbial safety but can also degrade a food's quality, as heavy heat pasteurization can degrade heat-sensitive nutrients in fruit juice. Non-thermal preservation methods built on hurdle principles offer a way to keep food safe while preserving more of its quality and nutrition than heat-based methods alone.