Stabilization of Arthrospira platensis with high-pressure processing and thermal treatments: Effect on physico-chemical and microbiological quality

Arthrospira platensis (Spirulina) is a cyanobacterium that has been recently studied for food applications due to its high biological and nutritional value. When A. platensis is used as an ingredient in food applications, proper treatments have to be applied in order to reduce microbial contamination. This work compared the effect of thermal treatments (sterilization at 121℃ and pasteurization at 90℃) and high-pressure processing (400, 600 MPa) on the chemical, physico-chemical, and microbial quality of 5% (wt/vol) A. platensis aqueous suspensions. Total antioxidant capacity, total polyphenols content, color, and pigments content were not strongly lowered/modified by the high-pressure processing (HPP) treatments. HPP at 400 MPa even improved the release of C-phycocyanin from the biomass because of the breakage of cell walls. HPP treatments were comparable to pasteurization in reducing yeasts, coliforms, Staphylococci, and total bacterial count. Conversely, sterilization was the only treatment that guaranteed the inactivation of spore-forming species but affecting the final quality. Novelty impact statement: High-pressure processing (HPP) treatments were found to be a good strategy to preserve or even improve some physical and chemical properties of Arthrospira platensis (Spirulina), in particular antioxidant capacity, polyphenols, color, and pigments content. Furthermore, HPP treatments were comparable to pasteurization in reducing microbial cell count, while sterilization was the only treatment able to ensure the inhibition of spore-forming species.