Atmospheric cold plasma as new strategy for foods processing - an overview

Abstract

The atmospheric cold plasma it is a non-thermal processing method. This technique becomes a subject of high interest for a wide variety of technologies including the food industry. The atmospheric cold plasma it is proposed for decontamination of fruits and vegetables, especially, without changes in sensory attributes. This paper summarizes some relevant aspects of atmospheric cold plasma including generation, microbial inactivation mechanism and plasma applications in food industry. Although some aspects of antimicrobial mechanisms were presented here, more research should be done to clarify the antimicrobial mechanisms, in addition to confirm that no harmful by-products are generated by this technology.