Rao Wei, Li Yeqing, Dhaliwal Harleen, Feng Mengmeng, Xiang Qisen, Roopesh M S, Pan Daodong, Du Lihui
State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-products, Ningbo, 315211 China.
Key Laboratory of Animal Protein Food Processing Technology of Zhejiang Province, College of Food and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ningbo University, Ningbo, 315800 China.
Food Eng Rev. 2023;15(1):86-112. doi: 10.1007/s12393-022-09329-9. Epub 2023 Jan 3.
Low-moisture foods such as spices, grains, and seeds constitute an important part of the human diet. Increased consumer concern for food safety and food quality has focused on the decontamination technologies required for low-moisture foods. Cold plasma treatment has been a promising novel technology in the food processing industry due to its advantages in safety, efficiency, versatility, and environmentally friendly nature. It has shown various capabilities on safety and quality control in low-moisture foods. This paper comprehensively reviewed the application of cold plasma in low-moisture foods, including inactivation of microorganisms, degradation of mycotoxins, influences on the quality of low-moisture foods, and promotion of seed germination. Cold plasma can inactivate the pathogenic microorganisms on the surface of low-moisture foods, by generating active species, ultraviolet radiation, and electric fields, which helps to extend the shelf life of foods while having minimal impact on food quality. Cold plasma technology is also an effective approach to detoxify mycotoxin-contaminated low-moisture foods by degrading various mycotoxins. With the manipulation of parameters for cold plasma generation, target functional properties of food products may be obtained. In addition, the application of cold plasma in seed germination is promising and could be of great significance to the global food crisis. This review also suggests that more systematic studies are needed to employ cold plasma in the low-moisture foods industry for selected applications.
香料、谷物和种子等低水分食品是人类饮食的重要组成部分。消费者对食品安全和食品质量的关注度不断提高，这使得低水分食品所需的去污技术成为关注焦点。冷等离子体处理因其在安全性、效率、多功能性和环境友好性方面的优势，一直是食品加工业中一项很有前景的新技术。它在低水分食品的安全和质量控制方面展现出了多种能力。本文全面综述了冷等离子体在低水分食品中的应用，包括微生物灭活、霉菌毒素降解、对低水分食品质量的影响以及对种子萌发的促进作用。冷等离子体可以通过产生活性物种、紫外线辐射和电场来灭活低水分食品表面的致病微生物，这有助于延长食品的保质期，同时对食品质量的影响最小。冷等离子体技术也是一种通过降解各种霉菌毒素来对受霉菌毒素污染的低水分食品进行解毒的有效方法。通过控制冷等离子体产生的参数，可以获得食品产品的目标功能特性。此外，冷等离子体在种子萌发中的应用前景广阔，对全球粮食危机可能具有重要意义。本综述还表明，需要进行更多系统性研究，以便在低水分食品行业中针对特定应用采用冷等离子体技术。
