In recent years, several innovative food processing technologies such as ultrasound (USN) and pulsed electric fields (PEF) have emerged in the market, showing a great potential both alone and in combination for the preservation of fresh and processed products. Recently, these technologies have also shown promising applications to reduce mycotoxin levels in food products. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the potential of the combined treatments USN + PEF and PEF + USN on the reduction of Ochratoxin A (OTA) and Enniatins (ENNs) of an orange juice mixed with milk beverage. For this purpose, the beverages were elaborated in the laboratory and individually spiked with mycotoxins at a concentration of 100 µg/L. They were then treated by PEF (30 kV, 500 kJ/Kg) and USN (20 kHz, 100 W, at a maximum power for 30 min). Finally, mycotoxins were extracted using dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME), and liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS-IT) was employed to determine them. The results showed promising applications, with reductions up to 50% for OTA and up to 47% for Enniatin B (ENNB) after the PEF + USN treatment combination. Lower reduction rates, up to 37%, were obtained with the USN + PEF combination. In conclusion, the combination of USN and PEF technologies could be a useful tool to reduce mycotoxins in fruit juices mixed with milk.
Keywords: Ochratoxin A; enniatins; mitigation; pulsed electric field; ultrasounds.