SOUS VIDE TECHNOLOGY — SEVERAL ASPECTS OF QUALITY AND MICROBIOLOGICAL SAFETY

Worsening of the demographic situation (a decline in the birth rate, a growth in the proportion of the elderly and so on), changes in eating habits associated with the changes in the pace of life, a desire of the increasing number of people to consume «healthy» products and not to spend much time on their preparation led to an increase in the demand for convenient ready-to-cook meat products that retain healthy components. As a result, the minimal processing technologies such as sous vide are finding ever increasing use. Sous vide is a technology of low temperature thermal processing of food under vacuum. Preparation of food by sous vide technology allows reliable control of product sensory indicators and microbiological safety with strict adherence to the temperature-time regimes of processing and storage taking into consideration the fact that relatively mild thermal processing may not ensure death of all vegetative cells and does not inactivate spores. To enhance the microbiological safety of these products, several additional methods of treatment with the use of natural antimicrobial substances can be applied. The paper presents a review of scientific studies aimed at investigation of an effect of the sous vide technology on changes in quality indicators and microbiological safety of sous vide products.