review · Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition
This review examines cold plasma as a non-thermal technology for inactivating bacterial spores, which pose significant challenges for food safety and spoilage prevention. While cold plasma is known to inactivate spores, the precise mechanisms are not well understood, hindering effective process control and optimisation. The review summarises factors influencing spore resistance, such as processing parameters, environmental elements, and spore properties. It also identifies potential inactivation targets within spore cells, including their outer structure, DNA, and metabolic proteins. Additionally, kinetic models describing cold plasma's sporicidal activity are discussed. A deeper understanding of how spores interact with cold plasma is crucial for advancing this technology in the food industry.
Bacterial spores are highly resistant and contribute to food spoilage and safety concerns. Cold plasma offers a promising non-thermal method for their inactivation. By clarifying how cold plasma works, this research can lead to more effective food preservation techniques, enhancing food safety and extending product shelf life without relying on heat.
This research is directly applicable to the food industry, aiming to optimise cold plasma technology for microbial inactivation, specifically targeting bacterial spores. Food manufacturers and processors could utilise improved cold plasma systems to enhance food safety and extend product shelf life. The work is at an applied research stage, focusing on understanding and refining an existing technology to make it more efficient and controllable for real-world use.
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Cold plasma has emerged as a non-thermal technology for microbial inactivation in the food industry over the last decade. Spore-forming microorganisms pose challenges for microbiological safety and for the prevention of food spoilage. Inactivation of spores induced by cold plasma has been reported by several studies. However, the exact mechanism of spore deactivation by cold plasma is poorly understood; therefore, it is difficult to control this process and to optimize cold plasma processing for efficient spore inactivation. In this review, we summarize the factors that affect the resistance of spores to cold plasma, including processing parameters, environmental elements, and spore properties. We then describe possible inactivation targets in spore cells (e.g., outer structure, DNA, and metabolic proteins) that associated with inactivation by cold plasma according to previous studies. Kinetic models of the sporicidal activity of cold plasma have also been described here. A better understanding of the interaction between spores and cold plasma is essential for the development and optimization of cold plasma technology in food the industry.
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DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2018.1460797
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