Cold plasma is an emerging food processing technology which has been shown to effectively inactivate pathogenic bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi. The process uses high-voltage electricity to ionize air and/or defined gas blends to create a mixture of ions, free electrons, ozone, radical species, and other reactive products. This energetic plasma, which operates near room temperature, has been tested with fruits, vegetables, nuts, meats, cheeses, poultry, seeds, powders, and other foods.
Once created at the high voltage electrodes, the cold plasma is applied to foods and food contact surfaces. Forced air can blow the cold plasma over products and surfaces, as with plasma jet systems. This allows for the varying treatment distances of irregularly shaped foods.
The commodity may also be moved in and out of the plasma field, as with dielectric barrier (DBD) systems. In either case, reactive chemical species in the cold plasma break the cellular structures, DNA, and proteins of pathogens on foods, inactivating them. Efficacy is dependent on treatment intensity and duration.
Combining cold plasma with chemical sanitizers, high intensity light, or other food safety interventions can provide enhanced, synergistic pathogen inactivation. Short treatments with cold plasma can induce sublethal injury in pathogens, rendering them more susceptible to another sanitizing processes. Some forms of cold plasma are completely waterless, using only use air and electricity.
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