Citation: Lauteri, C.; Ferri, G.; Piccinini, A.; Pennisi, L.; Vergara, A. Ultrasound Technology as Inactivation Method for Foodborne Pathogens: A Review. Foods 2023, 12, 1212. https://doi.org/10.3390/ foods12061212 Academic Editor: Dan Li Received: 16 February 2023 Revised: 2 March 2023 Accepted: 9 March 2023 Published: 13 March 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). foods Review Ultrasound Technology as Inactivation Method for Foodborne Pathogens: A Review Carlotta Lauteri , Gianluigi Ferri * , Andrea Piccinini, Luca Pennisi and Alberto Vergara Section of Food Inspection, Department of Veterinary Medicine, School of Specialization in Inspection of Foods of Animal Origin, “G. Tiecco” University of Teramo, 64100 Teramo, Italy * Correspondence: gferri@unite.it Abstract: An efficient microbiological decontamination protocol is required to guarantee safe food products for the final consumer to avoid foodborne illnesses. Ultrasound and non-thermal technology combinations represent innovative methods adopted by the food industry for food preservation and safety. Ultrasound power is commonly used with a frequency between 20 and 100 kHz to obtain an “exploit cavitation effect”. Microbial inactivation via ultrasound derives from cell wall damage, the oxidation of intracellular amino acids and DNA changing material. As an inactivation method, it is evaluated alone and combined with other non-thermal technologies. The evidence shows that ultrasound is an important green technology that has a good decontamination effect and can improve the shelf-life of products. This review aims to describe the applicability of ultrasound in the food industry focusing on microbiological decontamination, reducing bacterial alterations caused by food spoilage strains and relative foodborne intoxication/infection. Keywords: ultrasound; hurdle technologies; foodborne pathogens; non-thermal technology; public health 1. Introduction The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) reported 5175 foodborne outbreaks from 2015 to 2019 [1]; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes yearly re- ports that highlight interesting data: 48 million people become ill due to foodborne diseases (128,000 are hospitalized, with 3000 deaths [2]). Due to the increase in outbreak numbers, it is necessary to develop efficient food chain surveillance and adequate microbiological de- contamination protocols to guarantee safe food products for consumers. To achieve safety and genuineness, food processing technologies represent essential tools for microbiological control and products’ shelf-life enhancement [3,4]. Due to consumers’ growing requests for “minimally processed products”, the food industry applies new technologies to produce safe food matrices that maintain “fresh-like” characteristics [5]. Indeed, in conventional technologies, such as thermal treatments, this concept is not applicable: pasteurization and sterilization, commonly used in food industries, cause color alterations, characteristic flavors and a decrease in nutritional value [6–8]. Therefore, the food industry and scientific researchers have evaluated alternative non-thermal technologies (NTTs) that maintain the aroma, nutrient value, texture and color while decreasing bacteria that cause spoilage. Tiwari and coworkers defined NTTs as procedures, performed at efficient sublethal or ambient temperatures, that lead to minimal or no impacts on nutritional and quality food parameters [9] (see Figure 1). The aim of this review article is to perform an analysis of recent discoveries concerning ultrasound technology application in the food matrix’s shelf-life prolongation (bacterial load decrease) and bacterial foodborne pathogen inactivation, and to demonstrate its applicability as a useful green food technology among physical devices. Foods 2023, 12, 1212. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12061212 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/foods