Distance-driven precision in total dosage during liquid food treatment by pulsed light: enhancing estimation by temperature and color corrections

Pulsed light (PL) treatment is considered an emerging method for processing liquid foods. Efficient liquid food treatment design requires determining fluence to estimate microorganisms’ inactivation kinetics and develop effective treatment protocols. Despite available tools to determine PL equipment fluence, these are often costly and overlook the inherent photothermal mechanism. This research aims to analyze doses irradiated by PL equipment at 5.74 cm and 10.82 cm from the luminesce source, estimating the dose distribution across a simplified petri-dish-based sample holder, and validating results through Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 inactivation in guava nectar and pineapple juice. Results showed that correcting emitted doses for distance and absorbance yielded suitable adjustments, but including the temperature and color change factors strongest aligned the theoretical estimations with actual doses. This underscores a more pronounced correlation between the calculated dose and the inactivation of E. coli in guava nectar and pineapple juice.