Cold Plasma Technology for Food Preservation

By Dr. Daniela Bermúdez Aguirre

Independent Consultant, USA

Tuesday October 24th, 2017 at 12:00 (Mexico City, MX; UTC -05:00)

Cold plasma is one of the newest technologies under research in food science and technology with promising results for microbial inactivation. This technology represents a green option to disinfect the surface of foods and packaging materials, it is waterless, without chemical residues and with minimal changes in the product. Cold plasma is generated when an electrical discharge is in contact with a gas promoting the generation of very reactive chemical species such as ions, free radicals and ultraviolet radiation. These species can inactivate microorganisms and even spores. One of the main advantages of cold plasma is the high penetration of the plasma environment in porous materials, reaching some critical points in the product, in which microorganisms can hide from conventional disinfection technologies. The lethal effect of cold plasma depends on several factors, such as the gas composition (pure or mixed), configuration of the equipment and processing conditions such as voltage and frequency. Results show encouraging levels in inactivation of pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes or Salmonella spp and some spores. The tested products include diverse foods such as fresh produce, grains, powdered foods, eggs, poultry and some packaging materials, to mention few. However, as a novel technology there are still some research needs that need to be addressed before to scale-up and transfer the technology to food industry.