Many promising hurdles have been identified so far, although application of the idea in the food industry has been largely restricted to the meat sector. Recent studies, however, emphasize a much wider potential application, e.g., in bakery products, fish, and dairy products. More specifically, the concept was introduced into mild processing of fruits and vegetables. The design of new hurdles such as gas packaging, bioconservation, bacterocins, ultra-high pressure treatment, and edible coatings aided this development. Consumers want fresher food products.
Consumers demand fresher and more natural products.
This prompts food manufacturers to use milder preservation techniques and could be stimulating the current trend to hurdle technology. There is an urgent need for new or improved methods producing stable and safe foods. The concept of hurdle technology addresses this need. Preservation factors are hurdles to inhibit microorganisms. These hurdles may be temperature, water activity, acidity, redox potential, preservatives, and others.