**9. Conclusions**

More ancient and also recently conceived strategies that aim to reduce/eliminate bacterial populations in food materials including raw milk, are based on treatments, which are applied when the bacterial level reaches a certain threshold value: around 100,000 (105 ) cfu/ml for raw milk, which was first applied by countries having cold chain facilities; but nowadays, this threshold value is also targeted by many other countries. Depending on the production site, this goal may be difficult to reach.

The N2 gas flushing of raw milk was initially conceived to be applied at earliest possible in farms until the processing site as an additional hurdle to cold storage, such as to preserve the initial microbiological, biochemical and nutritional features of raw milk along the cold chain of raw milk storage and transportation, before its transformation. The recent observation that N2 gas flushing was about equivalently inhibitory of bacterial growth in raw milk at milder temperatures (15 and 25°C) compared to LPS [62], offers further perspectives for the method and especially as a replacement of numerous adulterating substances, including antibiotics, added to raw milk.

Strategies that aim to limit or control the bacterial load in raw milk should be designed to simultaneously dispel technological risks and consider human health risks: in a world that struggles with superbugs, it is reasonable to constantly evaluate practices on whether they respond at best to global challenges and interests.

N2 gas that constitutes 78% of our atmosphere is an unlimited resource. The N2 gas flushing technology, designed for an "open system" and successfully tested at pilot plant scale, when finalised, would simply "borrow" the gas from the atmosphere. By considering the *Sustainable Development Goals* set up by the United Nations (Agenda 2030) [64], the N2-based treatment contributes to the achievement of several objectives: by tackling food spoilage, there are perspectives to reduce poverty, improve food security and nutrition, ensure better health, while promoting sustainable economic growth.
