Cold plasma for the disinfection of industrial food‐contact surfaces: An overview of current status and opportunities

Abstract

Food safety is the primary goal for food and drink manufacturers. Cleaning and disinfection practices applied to the processing environment are vital to maintain this safety; yet, current approaches can incur costly downtime and the potential for microorganisms to grow and establish, if not effectively removed. For that reason, manufacturers are seeking nonthermal, online, and continuous disinfection processes to control the microbial levels within the processing environment. One such emerging technique, with great potential, is cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP). This review presents the latest advances and challenges associated with CAP‐based technologies for the decontamination of surfaces and equipment found within the food‐processing environment. It provides a detailed overview of the technology and a comprehensive analysis of the many CAP‐based antimicrobial studies on food‐contact surfaces and materials. As CAP is considered an emerging technique, many of the recent studies are still in the preliminary stages, with results obtained under widely different conditions. This lack of cohesive information and an inability to directly compare CAP systems has greatly impeded technological development. The review further explores the challenge of scaling CAP technology to meet industry needs, considering aspects such as regulatory constraints, environmental credentials, and cost of use. Finally, a discussion is presented on the future outlook for CAP technology in this area, identifying key challenges that must be addressed to promote industry uptake.

Improving food drying performance by cold plasma pretreatment: A systematic review

“…Another great advantage and potential for industrial application of CP pretreatment for dry products is the reduction of safety risks. More and more studies have shown that CP can degrade pesticides (Gavahian & Khaneghah, 2020), biotoxins (Yue, Jun‐Hu, & Da‐Wen, 2021), and kill pathogenic and spoilage bacteria in food (Katsigiannis, Bayliss, & Walsh, 2022), thereby enhancing the safety and storage stability of dried products. It will facilitate the choice of CP pretreatment in the drying industry.…”

“…As a gradually emerging treatment technology, cold plasma (CP) is widely used in antibacterial (Zhu et al., 2020), food composition and film modification (Bahrami et al., 2020; K. Zhang et al., 2019), food contaminant treatment(W. Yue et al., 2021), disinfection (Katsigiannis et al., 2022), and so on. Plasma is considered the fourth state of matter besides liquid, solid, and gas.…”

Effects of nonthermal dielectric barrier discharge plasma against Listeria monocytogenes and quality of smoked salmon fillets

“…In our study reveals that DBD plasma exposure duration 5–60 min against L. monocytogenes on smoked salmon by 0.17–1.25 log CFU/g (Table 1). It has been reported after DBD plasma treatment Salmonella enterica serovar Heidelberg on lettuce and chicken breast were reduced by ∼4.5 and 3.7 log 10 CFUs, respectively (Aboubakr et al, 2020; Katsigiannis, Bayliss, & Walsh, 2022). The counts of total aerobic bacteria, L. monocytogenes , E. coli , and Salmonella Typhimurium were reduced by 3.36, 2.14, 2.73, and 2.71 Log CFU/g, respectively, after a 10 min plasma treatment (Lee, Yong et al, 2016; Lee, Park, & Ha, 2016).…”

Production of third generation bio-fuel through thermal cracking process by utilizing Covid-19 plastic wastes

“…Apart from that, solid end-yields might be created primarily by low-temperature thermal degradation pyrolysis. As a result, coke, carbon black and char will be gathered [23] , [24] .…”