Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Católica de Ávila (UCAV), 05005 Ávila, Spain.
Recognized Research Group: Assessment and Multidisciplinary Intervention in Health Care and Sustainable Lifestyles, University of Valladolid, 47003 Valladolid, Spain.
Nutrients. 2022 Nov 3;14(21):4653. doi: 10.3390/nu14214653.
Atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) is a non-thermal technology whose ability to inactivate pathogenic microorganisms gives it great potential for use in the food industry as an alternative to traditional thermal methods. Multiple investigations have been reviewed in which the cold plasma is generated through a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) type reactor, using the atmosphere of the food packaging as the working gas. The results are grouped into meats, fruits and vegetables, dairy and lastly cereals. Microbial decontamination is due to the action of the reactive species generated, which diffuse into the treated food. In some cases, the treatment has a negative impact on the quality. Before industrializing its use, alterations in colour, flavour and lipid oxidation, among others, must be reduced. Furthermore, scaling discharges up to larger regions without compromising the plasma homogeneity is still a significant difficulty. The combination of DBD with other non-thermal technologies (ultrasound, chemical compounds, magnetic field) improved both the safety and the quality of food products. DBD efficacy depends on both technological parameters (input power, gas composition and treatment time) and food intrinsic properties (surface roughness, moisture content and chemistry).
大气冷等离子体（ACP）是一种非热技术，其灭活致病微生物的能力使其在食品工业中作为传统热方法的替代品具有很大的潜力。已经对使用食品包装中的大气作为工作气体的介电阻挡放电（DBD）型反应器产生的冷等离子体进行了多项调查。结果分为肉类、水果和蔬菜、乳制品和谷物。微生物的减少是由于生成的反应性物质的作用，这些物质扩散到处理过的食品中。在某些情况下，处理会对质量产生负面影响。在将其工业化应用之前，必须减少颜色、风味和脂质氧化等方面的变化。此外，将放电扩展到更大的区域而不影响等离子体的均匀性仍然是一个重大的困难。DBD 与其他非热技术（超声波、化合物、磁场）的结合提高了食品的安全性和质量。DBD 的功效取决于技术参数（输入功率、气体成分和处理时间）和食品固有特性（表面粗糙度、水分含量和化学成分）。
