As a result, these outbreaks led the United

States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) to issue hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) regulations for safe and sanitary processing of juice. A main performance standard in HACCP regulations to improve sanitary processing of juice is a minimum 5-log reduction of the pathogens in the juice being processed (US FDA, 2001). In general, conventional thermal processing DAPT price technology is used as a method for achieving a 5-log reduction of pathogens in fruit juices. But, thermal treatment damages the nutritional and physicochemical properties of foods. In the case of fresh juice, important factors such as flavor or nutrients can be affected by thermal pasteurization (Braddock, 1999). Recently, many consumers have come to prefer fresh extracted juices due to their

fresher taste with fewer flavor or vitamin losses (Bignon, 1997). This consumer trend, along with the disadvantages of thermal treatment, leads food researchers and processors to explore novel and alternative technologies which can improve the quality as well as achieve 5-log reductions of pathogens in juices (Lee et al., 2012). In 2001, ozone in the gaseous and aqueous phases was approved by the US FDA as an antimicrobial agent for the treatment, storage and processing of foods (Khadre et al., 2001). This approval resulted in the active utilization and study of ozone for pathogen inactivation by the food industry (Vojdani et al., 2008). Many food researchers have applied ozone to various fruit juices during processing, for example, apple cider, orange juice, strawberry juice, and apple juice (Choi et click here Non-specific serine/threonine protein kinase al., 2012, Patil et al., 2009, Tiwari et al., 2009b and Williams

et al., 2004). The reason why ozone is widely used in the food industry is that it has many advantages over other treatments. Ozone is a triatomic allotrope of oxygen and decomposes automatically and rapidly to a nontoxic product, oxygen, leaving no residues in foods (Burleson et al., 1975 and Graham, 1997). It has a high oxidation potential of 2.07 V in alkaline solution compared to that of chlorine (1.36 V), so it can be used as an effective antimicrobial agent (Fisher et al., 2000 and Kim et al., 1999). Also, it can destroy all forms of microorganisms at relatively low concentrations. Ozone achieves inactivation of bacteria by having an effect on various cellular components like proteins, peptidoglycans in cell envelopes, enzymes and nucleic acids in the cytoplasm. Oxidation of unsaturated lipids in the cell envelope causes leakage of inner contents and finally results in lysis (Das et al., 2006 and Khadre et al., 2001). In general, food products are treated with gaseous and aqueous forms of ozone. The form of ozone treatment is determined by the types of food products being processed (Cullen et al., 2010). The bactericidal effect of gaseous ozone on apple juice has been reported by several studies. Choi et al.