Sous Vide Processing as an Effective Technique for Improving Food Quality: A Critical Review

Abstract

Sous vide processing, the practice of sealing food under vacuum and cooking it at precisely controlled, sub-boiling temperatures for extended periods, has grown from a specialised culinary technique into a substantial subject of food science research in its own right. This review critically synthesises the evidence on whether sous vide processing improves food quality across meat, poultry, fish, seafood and vegetable matrices, and examines the microbiological safety considerations that come with its characteristically mild thermal regimes. The mechanistic basis of any quality improvement is discussed in terms of heat transfer within vacuum-sealed pouches, collagen solubilisation, protein denaturation kinetics, and the exclusion of oxygen from the cooking environment, all of which combine to influence tenderness, juiciness, colour stability and aroma retention relative to conventional cooking. Nutritional outcomes are considered in terms of vitamin, mineral, polyphenol and protein bioaccessibility, including the trade-offs that arise between prolonged low-temperature exposure and the degradation of heat-labile compounds. The microbiological dimension of the technique is addressed through the lens of psychrotrophic Clostridium botulinum, Listeria monocytogenes and other vegetative and sporulating pathogens, together with the predictive modelling approaches used to underpin safe time–temperature validation. The review also evaluates the growing trend of combining sous vide with complementary hurdle technologies, including high hydrostatic pressure processing and natural antimicrobial compounds, as a way of reconciling sensory quality with microbiological assurance, and considers consumer perception and the practicalities of industrial-scale adoption. Drawing on a substantial and recent body of peer-reviewed literature, the review concludes that sous vide processing can deliver measurable quality advantages over conventional cooking when time–temperature parameters are properly validated, although the evidence base remains uneven across food categories and would benefit from greater methodological standardisation. The discussion is intended to be of practical use to food scientists, process engineers and culinary professionals seeking an integrated, critically appraised account of the technique's strengths and constraints.