article · Journal of Food Science
This research investigated the use of dielectric barrier discharge atmospheric cold plasma (DBD-ACP) as a non-thermal method to inactivate Escherichia coli in apple juice. The study found that DBD-ACP effectively reduced E. coli levels, achieving a 3.98 to 4.34 log CFU/mL reduction within 40 seconds at 30 to 50 W input power. The inactivation mechanism involved active species, such as hydrogen peroxide, ozone, and nitrate, damaging the bacterial cell membrane. While lower intensity treatments had minimal impact on the apple juice's quality attributes like pH, colour, and antioxidant capacity, higher power and longer exposure times did cause significant changes. The findings suggest DBD-ACP could be a viable alternative to traditional thermal processing for fruit juices.
Ensuring the safety of fruit juices without compromising their nutritional value or taste is crucial for public health. This research explores a non-thermal method that could effectively eliminate harmful bacteria like E. coli, offering a promising alternative to heat-based pasteurisation which can sometimes degrade juice quality.
This research indicates that DBD-ACP technology could be developed for pasteurising fruit juices, offering a non-thermal alternative to current methods. Food processing companies could potentially use this for microbial inactivation in products like apple juice. The technology appears to be at an early-stage application development phase, demonstrating its potential as a substitute for traditional thermal processing.
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Atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) is a promising non-thermal technology in food industry. In this study, a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD)-ACP exhibited strong bactericidal effect on Escherichia coli in apple juice. Under a 30 to 50 W input power, less than 40 s treatment time was required for DBD-ACP to result in 3.98 to 4.34 log CFU/mL reduction of E. coli in apple juice. The inactivation behavior of ACP on E. coli was well described by the Weibull model. During the treatment, the cell membrane of E. coli was damaged severely by active species produced by plasma, such as hydrogen peroxide, ozone and nitrate. In addition, the ACP exposure had slight effect on the °Brix, pH, titratable acidity (TA), color values, total phenolic content, and antioxidant capacity of apple juice. However, higher level of DBD-ACP treatment, 50 W for more than 10 s in this case, resulted in significant change of the pH, TA, color and total phenolic content of apple juice. The results in this study have provided insight in potential use of DBD-ACP as an alternative to thermal processing for fruit juices in food industry. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Escherichia coli O157:H7 in apple juice is a potential risk for public health. This study demonstrated that 30 s cold plasma treatment resulted in more than 4 log CFU/mL reduction under 50 W, while the quality attributes of apple juice were not significantly affected. Therefore, cold plasma technology is a promising alternative substitute of traditional thermal processing for juice pasteurization.
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DOI: 10.1111/1750-3841.14045
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