Nonthermal Plasma for Food Quality and Safety

Abstract

Although the microbicidal e\x80ects of nonthermal plasma (NTP-the cold ionised gas) were reported more than \x89fteen years ago, we are still waiting for its wider application in practice. \x8dough there are lots of published scienti\x89c papers describing the reduction and inactivation of pathogenic microorganisms (e.g., bacteria and spores) byNTP exercisable in microbiology, in medicine for disinfection of thermolabil instruments and therapy of infections, and in food processing for microbial decontamination of food or production components, their application in practice is still not generally accepted. Nevertheless, it seems the \x89nal step of apparatus upscaling and application in practice should become directly. NTP technology is useable above all in the food industry. NTP can inactivate decontaminated surfaces of various food products and semi\x89nished food products, yet the e\x80ect is relatively gentle on surfaces being decontaminated. NTP provides su\x8bcient e\x8bciency accompanied by minimal damage and minimal impact on the quality of processed foods or thermosensitive packagingmaterials.\x8dus far, it appears that, at least in some cases, there is minimal damage of antioxidants in food, and the content of substance residues is minimized after the plasma treatment. It is a usable e\x80ect that NTP may start better germination and early growth in many agricultural crop seeds. By our experience from the food and agriculture industry, one of the main reasons may be the skepticism of producers about the e\x80ectivity and suitability of NTP and also their unfamiliarity. Nowadays, when the knowledge of NTP e\x80ects is general in the scienti\x89c area, our next big deal is to present and propagate the potential of NTP to the public community. \x8dis special issue proposes to collect a set of several interesting works to catch the attention of potential applicants. \x8dis issue includes \x89ve original papers and one review. \x8de \x89rst three papers con\x89rm the potential of NTP to decrease the number of food micro\x92ora together with the analysis of the quality of treated food. \x8de various food samples they used are both perishable ones such as chicken meat and onion and durable ones such as rice. \x8de next article together also with the previous ones pays attention to the food quality a\x80ection by NTP. \x8de paper presents the study about their in\x92uence on both physical and chemical properties such as color, content of antioxidants, fatty acids, protein, sugar, thermodynamic properties, solubility, and pH. \x8de last but one article addresses the not yet well-known fact of food functionality a\x80ection by NTP presented on cereal \x92our and dough properties. As a \x89nal article, we o\x80er our review summarizing the results of several studies of NTP treatment of wheat grains as one of the world’s most important nutritive. We focus mainly on the possible e\x80ects of NTP on wheat rather than on the detailed description of plasma generation and other treatments. Details and description of the plasma e\x80ect begin at the surface of wheat grains and continue stepwise through the growth characteristics, metabolisms, and matured plants to the \x92our as the \x89nal food product. We hope that this special issue contributes to familiarize the awareness of NTP features suitable for food industry and that the gentle reader \x89nds it interesting. We wish you a pleasant reading.