Inhibitory effects of non-thermal atmospheric plasma on and in the Korean traditional non-fermented "".

Food-borne bacteria have frequently been detected in , a representative and traditional fermented ethnic food of Korea. This study investigated the effect of atmospheric dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma treatment (1.1 kV, 43 kHz, N: 1.5 m/s, 5-60 min) on reduction of and and on quality parameters in , a non-fermented . A decrease of 0.12/0.09, 0.19/0.19, 0.34/0.45, 0.64/0.72, and 1.13/1.12 log CFU/g was observed by 5, 10, 20, 30, and 60 min of DBD plasma, respectively. D-value of 52.83 and 51.95 min was determined for (R = 0.99) and (R = 0.98) using the first order kinetics model. The quality parameters (pH, Brix, and hardness) were not significantly different ( > 0.05) between treated and untreated . Moreover, a decrease of >1 log CFU/g, for both bacteria was observed without any change in the quality of . These findings imply that DBD plasma treatment enhances safety and protects product from microbial risk.