Abstract: High-voltage electric field sterilization, one of the most promising low-temperature sterilization technologies, requires very small energy consumption with no pollution and high sterilization efficiency and has little effect on the quality of foods so that it has broad prospects in the field of food sterilization in the future. This article introduces the two common types of high-voltage electric field (high-voltage pulsed electric field and high-voltage electrostatic field) with respect to their installation features, electric field parameter settings for sterilization and the mechanism of high-voltage electric field sterilization, outlines the recent progress in the application of the two types of high-voltage electric field in the sterilization of solid and liquid foods, and summarizes the efforts of researchers from China and abroad to improve the shortcomings of traditional electric field equipment. It also points out the synergistic effect of high-voltage electric field in combination with other sterilization technologies and discusses the future prospects of high-voltage electric field.

Key words: high-voltage electrostatic field (HVEF); pulsed electric field (PEF); food sterilization; electric field equipment; synergistic sterilization