Selective Inactivation Strategies for Vegetable Raw Materials: Regulating Microbial Communities to Ensure the Safety and Quality of Fermented Vegetables.

Fermented vegetables, which are valued for their distinctive organoleptic properties and nutritional profile, are susceptible to quality deterioration during processing and storage because microorganisms inhabit vegetable raw materials. The metabolic processes of these microorganisms may induce texture degradation, chromatic alterations, flavor diminution, and spoilage. Conventional inactivation methods employing thermal sterilization or chemical preservatives achieve microbial control through nonselective inactivation, inevitably compromising the regional sensory characteristics conferred by indigenous fermentative microbiota. Recent advances in existing antimicrobial technologies offer promising alternatives for selective microbial management in fermented vegetable matrices. Existing modalities, including cold plasma, electromagnetic wave-based inactivation (e.g., photodynamic inactivation, pulsed light, catalytic infrared radiation, microwave, and radio frequency), natural essential oils, and lactic acid bacterial metabolites, demonstrate targeted pathogen inactivation while maintaining beneficial microbial consortia essential for quality preservation when properly optimized. This paper explores the applications, mechanisms, and targeted microbes of these technologies in fermented vegetable ingredients, aiming to provide a robust theoretical and practical framework for the use of selective inactivation strategies to manage the fermentation process. By assessing their impact on the initial microbial community, this review aims to guide the development of methods that ensure product safety while safeguarding the characteristic flavor and quality of fermented vegetables.