Cold plasma treatment is a promising intervention in food processing to boost product safety and extend the shelf‐life. The activated chemical species of cold plasma can act rapidly against micro‐organisms at ambient temperatures without leaving any known chemical residues. This review presents an overview of the action of cold plasma against molds and mycotoxins, the underlying mechanisms, and applications for ensuring food safety and quality. The cold plasma species act on multiple sites of a fungal cell resulting in loss of function and structure, and ultimately cell death. Likewise, the species cause chemical breakdown of mycotoxins through various pathways resulting in degradation products that are known to be less toxic. We argue that the preliminary reports from cold plasma research point at good potential of plasma for shelf‐life extension and quality retention of foods. Some of the notable food sectors which could benefit from antimycotic and antimycotoxin efficacy of cold plasma include, the fresh produce, food grains, nuts, spices, herbs, dried meat and fish industries.

Listeria monocytogenes is often responsible for postprocessing contamination of ready-to-eat (RTE) products including cooked ham. As an emerging technology, atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) has the potential to inactivate L. monocytogenes in packaged RTE meats. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of treatment time, modified atmosphere gas compositions (MAP), ham formulation, and post-treatment storage (1 and 7 days at 4°C) on the reduction of a five-strain cocktail of L. monocytogenes and quality changes in ham subjected to in-package ACP treatment. Initial average cells population on ham surfaces were 8 log CFU/cm 2 . The ACP treatment time and gas composition significantly (P < 0.05) influenced the inactivation of L. monocytogenes, irrespective of ham formulations. When MAP1 (20% O 2 + 40% CO 2 + 40% N 2 ) was used, there was a significantly higher log reduction (>2 log reduction) in L. monocytogenes on ham in comparison to MAP2 (50% CO 2 + 50% N 2 ) and MAP3 (100% CO 2 ), irrespective of ham formulation. Addition of preservatives (that is, 0.1% sodium diacetate and 1.4% sodium lactate) or bacteriocins (that is, 0.05% of a partially purified culture ferment from Carnobacterium maltaromaticum UAL 307) did not significantly reduce cell counts of L. monocytogenes after ACP treatment. Regardless of type of ham, storage of 24 hr after ACP treatment significantly reduced cells counts of L. monocytogenes to approximately 4 log CFU/cm 2 . Following 7 days of storage after ACP treatment, L. monocytogenes counts were below the detection limit (>6 log reduction) when samples were stored in MAP1. However, there were significant changes in lipid oxidation and color after post-treatment storage. In conclusion, the antimicrobial efficacy of ACP is strongly influenced by gas composition inside the package and post-treatment storage.Practical Application: Surface contamination of RTE ham with L. monocytogenes may occur during processing steps such as slicing and packaging. In-package ACP is an emerging nonthermal technology, which can be used as a postpackaging decontamination step in industrial settings. This study demonstrated the influence of in-package gas composition, treatment time, post-treatment storage, and ham formulation on L. monocytogenes inactivation efficacy of ACP. Results of present study will be helpful to optimize in-package ACP treatment and storage conditions to reduce L. monocytogenes, while maintaining the quality of ham.

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In Canada, Salmonella-related foodborne illness accounts for more than 88,000 cases annually. Poultry products represent one of the major vectors for the zoonotic transmission of Salmonella. The majority of the current disinfection strategies that are applied in the poultry industry involve the use of diverse chemical antimicrobial agents; however, knowledge about the efficacy of novel antimicrobial technologies such as atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) and the potential of hurdle interventions is very limited. The objective of this study was to evaluate the synergetic effect of ACP and peracetic acid (PAA) as a hurdle antimicrobial intervention to reduce Salmonella enterica Typhimurium on raw poultry meat. Raw poultry meat samples were inoculated with Salmonella Typhimurium followed by the application of different treatments consisting of ACP and PAA (100 and 200 ppm) alone as well as in combination. Different hurdle interventions using PAA and ACP treatments resulted in significant (P ≤ 0.05) reductions in Salmonella Typhimurium, ranging from 2.3 to 5.3 log CFU/cm2, in comparison to PAA treatments alone with 100 or 200 ppm or ACP treatment alone, resulting in the reduction of Salmonella populations by 0.6, 1.3, and 2.3 CFU/cm2, respectively. Treatments involving application of PAA followed immediately by ACP and ACP followed by PAA resulted in the highest (P ≤ 0.05) reduction in Salmonella by 4.7 and 5.3 log CFU/cm2, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy images indicated that combined treatments resulted in destruction of Salmonella cells with visible cellular deformation and loss of cellular integrity. Color and moisture content of poultry meat samples were affected; thus, for large-scale application, further research needs to be done for optimizing this hurdle intervention. In conclusion, this study demonstrates the synergistic effect of ACP and PAA and its potential application for the safety of poultry products. HIGHLIGHTS

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