Cold plasma (CP) technology has proven very effective as an alternative tool for food decontamination and shelf-life extension. The impact of CP on food quality is very crucial for its acceptance as an alternative food processing technology. Due to the non-thermal nature, CP treatments have shown no or minimal impacts on the physical, chemical, nutritional and sensory attributes of various products. This review also discusses the negative impacts and limitations posed by CP technology for food products. The limited studies on interactions of CP species with food components at the molecular level offers future research opportunities. It also highlights the need for optimization studies to mitigate the negative impacts on visual, chemical, nutritional and functional properties of food products. The design versatility, non-thermal, economical and environmentally friendly nature of CP offers unique advantages over traditional processing technologies. However, CP processing is still in its nascent form and needs further research to reach its potential.
Atmospheric pressure cold plasma technology is an emerging nonthermal food technology for microbiological decontamination of food and bio-materials. This study demonstrates the applicability of in-package cold plasma technology as a novel means to inactivation of enzymes. The kinetics of inactivation of tomato peroxidase as a model enzyme was studied at 30, 40 and 50kV, for up to 5' of atmospheric air dielectric barrier discharge plasma treatments. The enzyme activity was found to decrease with both treatment time and voltage, the former variable exhibiting a more pronounced effect. Kinetic models viz. first-order, Weibull and logistic models were fitted to the experimentally observed data to numerate the model parameters. The enzyme inactivation kinetics was found to be best described the sigmoidal logistic function.
KeywordsCold Plasma, Nonthermal, Enzyme, Peroxidase, Tomato
Industrial RelevanceIn-package cold plasma processing is a novel and innovative approach for the decontamination of foods with potential industrial application. This paper provides evidence for reduction of tomato peroxidase activity using cold plasma from a dielectric barrier discharge. It also demonstrates that the sigmoidal shaped logistic model adequately describes the enzymatic inhibition. The work described in this research is relevant to the processing of fruits, vegetables and their products, wherein enzyme activity leads to quality deterioration.
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