J Food Process Preserv. 2019;00:e14083. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jfpp | 1 of 16 https://doi.org/10.1111/jfpp.14083 © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Received: 25 March 2019 | Revised: 7 May 2019 | Accepted: 7 June 2019 DOI: 10.1111/jfpp.14083 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Simultaneous multifrequency: A possible alternative to improve the efficacy of ultrasound treatment on cherry tomato during storage Abdullateef Taiye Mustapha 1 | Cunshan Zhou 1,2 | Yanhui Sun 2 | Hafida Wahia 1 | Frederick Sarpong 1 | Patrick Owusu‐Ansah 1 | Richard Osae 1 | Phyllis Otu 1 | Haile Ma 1 1 School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, People’s Republic of China 2 School of Biological and Food Engineering, Chuzhou University, Chuzhou, People’s Republic of China Correspondence Cunshan Zhou, School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, People’s Republic of China. Email: zhcs@ujs.edu.cn Funding information Science and Technology Major Project of Anhui, Grant/Award Number: 18030701152; Social Development Program (General Project) of Jiangsu, Grant/Award Number: BE2016779 and NY2017015; Policy Guidance Program (Research Cooperation) of Jiangsu, Grant/Award Number: BY2016072-03; National Key Research and Development Program of China, Grant/Award Number: 2016YFD0400705-04, 2017YFD0400903-01 and 2018YFD0700101-02 Abstract The productiveness of ultrasound (US) is affected by its frequency, power, and time, which has been reported to be very effective during food treatment when combined with other techniques of treatments. The study was aimed to evaluate the effect of mono-frequency (MFU), simultaneous dual-frequency (SDFU), and simultaneous tri-frequency US (STFU) at treatment times of 5–25 min on microbial inactivation and nutritional quality of cherry tomato. Results revealed that within 10 min of sonica- tion, SDFU was most effective compared with MFU toward inhibiting the spoilage microorganisms, delaying ripening as well as maintaining firmness, total phenolic, fla- vonoid, and antioxidant of the fruit during 21 days of storage at 4°C. Although STFU caused a higher reduction in microbial load after treatment, it, however, showed several adverse effects on the fruit during storage. Overall, SDFU treatment had great potential in preserving shelf life and nutritional value of cherry tomato during storage. Practical applications US treatment has been implemented toward improving the shelf life of fruit and veg- etables. However, a high desirable result has been related to its combination with other physical or chemical methods. The remarkable inactivation of microorganisms obtained for the dual- and tri-frequency treatments under this study would contrib- ute to the application of a nonthermal technique in the reduction of contaminants on ready-to-eat fresh products including cherry tomato. Furthermore, the positive effect of this treatment on the quality of the cherry tomato during storage indicated that this technique could be used to replace the common practice of combining US with chemical treatment in food preservation industries. Nevertheless, further ex- ploration is needed toward determining the synergistic effect of these treatments with heat (thermosonication).