# Applications of Pulsed Light Decontamination Technology in Food Processing: An Overview
## 8 Future Challenges, Trends and Scope  
The commercialization of PL is possible only when the system is economical and affordable. Optimizing the important processing conditions to gain the desired log reduction level for specific food applications without jeopardizing quality would enable easier scaling-up. Any future efforts made to develop the PL process needs to be optimized based on the preliminary recommendations of U.S. FDA, viz. * The total cumulative treatment, in terms of total fluence shall not exceed 12 J/cm\({}^{2}\)
* The duration of pulses is \(<\) 2 ms
* Typical pulse frequencies used in range of 1 to 20 pulses per second  
Various challenges present themselves currently. For an effective PL treatment for microbial inactivation, the reflection coefficient of product surface should be low. Food products to be treated with PL should have good optical properties [4]. Food composition also plays important role in affecting PL efficacy. Solid foods and packaging materials must ideally be clear, smooth, and without roughness, pores, and grooves which could'shadow' the microorganisms from the light [4]. Even highly smooth surfaces may also reflect light, rendering PL ineffective. These problems are further aggravated due to the ill-effects of overheating, which has hindered the treatment of carrots [80], alfalfa seeds [79], and raw salmon fillets [81]. Optimizing the desired photo-thermal based decontamination effect without unnecessary overheating of the product is an important challenge that needs to be addressed. Due to the shadowing effect, a PL system must be suitably developed for inactivating biofilms and granular materials like cereals, grains, and spices [47]. In the case of liquid foods, suspended particles or concentrated substrates in products like juice and milk can shield microorganisms, fat can minimize PL effectiveness, and liquids of low transmittance (like milk) will attenuate or scatter light before light could harm the microorganisms [47]. Proteinaceous and fat-rich food matrixes are not easily treated [80]. Although solid food products and clear juices are efficiently treated, opaque or turbid food treatment systems have to be devised based on research. Optimization of the processing parameters and solutions to these potential problems dictates the future of PL technology. The PL technology has shown potential in reducing allergen levels in peanut [142] and other food products. In future, PL can be further explored to counter allergies related with other foods. While PL can be effective for treatment of smooth surfaces like packaging materials, one scope of research is on the development of PL for solid foods with rough surfaces, and granular materials like grains, seeds, spices etc. More research is needed on the applicability of photosensitization-based reduction of microbial load in foods. The enhancement of phytochemicals in food products apart from mushrooms could be an interesting scope for future research. Major efforts are needed to address this engineering challenge of equipment development for novel PL applications including conveyor systems for solid food treatment and continuous flow-through systems for liquid foods. [PERSON] et al. [1] suggested a possibility of \"thin profile PL treatment\" of liquid foods, which is needed to be further explored. PL equipment with good penetration, like using fluidized beds for treating granular foods and multi-directional lights for uniform surface exposure [60], seems feasible in the future. PL could be employed for packaging films sterilization in aseptic packaging systems, as an alternative to the use of H\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{2}\), and/or UV lamps. PL systems can be combined with other methods of food preservation, such as HHP or PEF also. PL equipment with cooling systems could be a solution to product heating problems. Multiphysics modeling and simulation tools are important for process validation. and Continuous UV processing has been extensively studied and simulated using computation fluid dynamics (CFD).