Cold Plasma Treatment Concerning Quality and Safety of Food: A Review

Abstract

In the past years, cold plasma was only used in the sterilization of materials but today it has marked major applications in the food sector as well. Cold plasma is a modern green technology or an eco-friendly process, which is used in microbial decontamination of foods and their products like fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat products. As cold plasma consists of reactive ions species and not any hazardous chemicals, which could adversely affect human health, it has gained much importance and it is widely acceptable to consumers. The technology helps in providing safe and nutritious foods with minimal effect in quality. For information collection on cold plasma treatment, we have majorly considered recent and original research work by the scientific community. Major emphasis was on the implication of cold plasma treatment on the different food groups viz. cereals, dairy, meat, fish, eggs, and poultry products, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables and spices and herbs.The intent of this review is to bring forth microbial inactivation mechanism and decontamination efficacies upon cold plasma interaction on various food groups. Further, key insights on the quality impact on plasma treatment is evaluated and there on implicating key consideration for selecting cold plasma technology for any food or food products.