doi:10.1016/j.ifset.2018.07.004engde Carvalho, R.J.de Souza, G.T.Pagán, E.García-Gonzalo, D.Magnani, M.Pagán, R.Nanoemulsions of Mentha piperita L. essential oil in combination with mild heat, pulsed electric fields (PEF) and high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) as an alternative to inactivate Escherichia coli O157: H7 in fruit juicesART-2018-107067This study was performed in order to obtain and characterize nanoemulsions of Mentha piperita L. essential oil (n-MPEO) to assess its efficacy in combination with mild heat (MHT) (50, 52, 54¿°C; 10¿min), pulsed electric fields (PEF) (20, 25, 30¿kV/cm; 150¿µs), and high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) (150, 200, 300¿MPa; 15¿min) treatments in causing a 5- log10 reduction in survival counts (from 7 to <2 log10 CFU/mL) of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in guava and mango juices. The droplets of n-MPEO were¿<¿200¿nm and showed good stability for 4¿months at 4¿°C. The n-MPEO at 5.0¿µL/mL displayed a more efficacious long-term antimicrobial activity than suspensions of MPEO (s-MPEO). Combined treatments of s-MPEO or n-MPEO and MHT, PEF, or HHP acted synergistically against E. coli. Nevertheless, combined treatments with n-MPEO showed the same or even higher efficacy than those with s-MPEO (up to 1- additional log10 reduction). Thus, by using nanoemulsions, lower doses of antimicrobial compounds (up to 4 times) or milder MHT (up to 4¿°C), PEF (up to 5¿kV/cm) and HHP (up to 100¿MPa) treatments can be applied, while still guaranteeing the microbial safety of tropical fruit juices.2018http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/7958610.1016/j.ifset.2018.07.004http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/79586oai:zaguan.unizar.es:79586info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/A20info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO-CICYT/AGL2015-69565-PInnovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 48 (2018), 219-227by-nc-ndhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess