Understanding the Impact of Nonthermal Plasma on Food Constituents and Microstructure-A Review

Nonthermal plasma (NTP) is superior to thermal technologies as a technique that provides a satisfactory microbial safety and maintains reasonable standards in food quality attributes. Currently, the effects of NTP on some food components is regarded as beneficial, such as effects on starch and protein modification. For other food components, such as lipid oxidation, NTP is regarded as an undesirable treatment because it leads to quality deterioration and formation of off-flavor. An overview of the basic principles of NTP and food microstructure in relation to NTP-treated food and the underlying mechanisms are discussed. The review further highlights the latest research on plasma application in food and the related impact on food matrices. Efforts were made to outline the research findings in terms of NTP application on foods with an emphasis on the impacts on the food microstructure and their related qualities. In this review, the industrial capacity of NTP to improve the functional properties of starch, proteins, and lipids as well as provide little or no alteration in food quality compared to other technologies are emphasized. Some oxidative breakdown in relation to starch, proteins, and lipids are discussed and documented in this paper as a review of representative available publications.