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Cyto-/ genotoxic effects STUDY of a continuous UV-C treatment USING liquid egg products AS MODEL FOOD

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UV-C treatment of food is a promising non-thermal processing technology to improve food safety and preservation. Most of the chemical constituents of food absorb UV-C light that can lead to chemical modifications and quality changes. This work investigated the effects of UV-C treatment of liquid egg products on lipid, protein oxidations and potential cyto- and genotoxic effects on intestinal epithelial cells in vitro. Egg preparations (egg white, yolk, liquid whole egg) were treated with UV-C (254 nm, volumetric doses between 0 and 115,619 JL-1) using a commercial UV-C processing unit equipped with a Dean Flow reactor. UV-C treatment at high doses (from 32,181 JL-1, about 2 times higher than needed to inactivate 5 Log of relevant microorganisms) showed an increased lipid oxidation in egg yolk and slight effects in liquid whole eggs, this was confirmed by slightly but not statistically significant increased peroxide values. UV-C induced also slight protein damage, characterized by the total sulphydryl group reduction. These UV-C-induced oxidative modifications in egg preparations however did not cause any increase in cyto- or genotoxic (DNA strand breaks) effects in intestinal Caco-2 cells.