# Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) to Mitigate Emerging Myotoxins in Juices and Smoothies
## 1 Introduction  
Excellent nutritional and sensory food properties as well as food security are some of the main population concerns leading to an increased demand of high quality fresh-like foods [1]. High hydrostatic pressure (HPPP), pulsed electric field (PEF), and ultrasound (USN), collectively called innovative food processing technologies, are being employed to obtain safe, healthy processed food with, if possible, unaltered sensory and nutritional properties [2]. These technologies are based on physical constraints and offer some advantages compared to traditional thermal processing as they use mild temperatures and short treatment times, thus being a useful alternative to partially or completely replace the traditional well-established processes of preservation [3, 4]. PEF technology involves the application of electrical treatments of different electric field strength (1-40 kV/cm) for short periods of time to a product placed between two electrodes. PEF is reported to be an effective tool for inactivating microorganisms at low temperatures and has been widely used to sterilize foods such as vegetables, fruit juices, milk, and liquid eggs [5, 6]. PEF has also been applied to inactivate enzymes in the food industry, to extract nutritionally valuable compounds from plant tissue and food by-products, for drying and freezing in food processing, and to promote some selected properties of food macromolecules and some chemical reactions [7]. Compared with thermal treatments, PEF-processed juices allowed for more retention of biologically active compoundssuch as vitamins, ascorbic acid, carotenoid, anthocyanins, lycopene, and organoleptic characteristics than that of the juices processed under thermal treatment [8]. In this sense, [PERSON] et al. [9] observed that PEF processing did not alter the contents of total phenolics and anthocyanin in pomegranate juice. PEF treatment has also been successfully applied in the degradation of some organophosphorus pesticides [10; 11]. Mycotoxins are toxic substances naturally present in food and feed, produced by secondary metabolism of some filamentous fungi [12]. They are related to some adverse effects such as nephrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and immunosuppressive effects. Emerging mycotoxins are mycotoxins produced by the _Fusarium_ genus that cause cytotoxic effects due their ionophoric properties, which evoke changes in the intracellular ion concentrations that consequently affect cell functions [13; 14]. Development of detoxification technologies should be a priority for research in food processing to reduce mycotoxin levels [15]. However, few studies are available so far in the literature dealing with the effects of PEF on aflat (AFs) content [16; 17]. In addition, during food processing, some degradation or modified mycotoxins products may also be formed. A large majority of these compounds that are generated after food processing have not been tested for potential adverse effects on human health, which makes it difficult to carry out an adequate risk assessment [18]. In this case, computational approaches can be used as a preliminary tool to identify the potential toxicity of these degraded or modified mycotoxins compounds generated after food processing by using the compounds' chemical structures, and these approaches may also be employed as a screening method to select which compounds will be assayed later by in vitro assays. In silico methods are currently one of the promising approaches for toxicity assessment; they employ expert systems and multiple algorithms that use computation [19] and are efficient tools, especially in concrete situations, such as evaluating the toxicity of new degradation or reaction products for which standards are not available. Furthermore, these in silico methods lower costs, duration, and harm to animals, thus, complying with the replace, reuse, and refinement of experimental animals (3 Rs) protocol [20].