Recent developments in cold plasma decontamination technology in the food industry

Background. The advent of the 21st century has witnessed a growing demand of safe and nutritious foods. The food industry is adopting novel non-thermal food processing technologies. Cold plasma is one such promising non-thermal food processing method which uses charged, highly reactive gaseous molecules and species to inactivate contaminating microorganisms on foods and packaging materials. Scope and approach: The paper gives the reader an overview of the cold plasma technology in food industry. It reviews principles of plasma generation, including mechanisms of action of the process on microorganisms. It also highlights different plasma generation systems, various published results of plasma application to inactivate microorganisms in vitro and in various food products, food packages and equipment surfaces. The challenges of the process, its effects on food quality and the future prospects are highlighted. Key findings and conclusions: This article aims to review and apprise readers about the important fundamentals and latest trends in the Cold Plasma technology. The on-going studies on plasma technology prove that cold plasma is strongly effective for surface decontamination, with efforts in-progress for liquid processing. The short time of application causes no significant deterioration in food products. Thus, it is an apt alternative processing technology which could also help to counter food allergenicity, seed germination, packaging material printing, waste-water treatment, modify food functionality, extract bio-actives etc. Further research is needed for scaling up of this process for future commercialization.