Consecutive treatments of cold plasma and intense pulsed light for microbial decontamination of fresh cabbage slices in plastic containers.

Consecutive treatment with intense pulsed light (IPL) and cold plasma (CP) was evaluated as an intervention technology to decontaminate cabbage slices in plastic containers. Salmonella inactivation efficacy increased as the treatment time and voltage of IPL and CP treatments increased. The rotation of the container during IPL treatment as well as the selected sequence of treatment, CP treatment followed by IPL treatment (CP-IPL), were beneficial in inactivating Salmonella. Under the determined conditions (CP: 24.5 kV, 2 min; IPL: 1.5 kV, 2 min), the inactivation levels of Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, and Bacillus cereus spores using CP-IPL treatment were 3.1, 2.9, 3.2 log CFU/g, and 2.1 log spores/g, respectively. The efficacy of Salmonella inactivation in cabbage slices using CP-IPL treatment was maintained during storage at 4 °C and 10 °C. CP-IPL treatment did not alter the color and lipid peroxidation of cabbage slices. At identical treatment times, CP-IPL treatment alleviated the antioxidant activity decrease and the damage to the cabbage cell membrane compared with CP treatment alone, while resulting in a higher microbial inactivation efficacy. This study demonstrates that CP-IPL treatment has the potential to effectively increase the microbiological safety of cabbage slices in plastic containers with minimal impact on their quality.